Metamorphosis
by ArashiAkurei
Summary: Tsuna always wondered how Hibari came to be the person he is now. He found his answer in the form of a diary... belonging to Hibari's mother. [Slight 1827]
1. Discovery

**Title:** Metamorphisis

**Author:** ArashiAkurei/soghunx

**Rating:** PG-16

**Pairings:** 1827

**Warnings:** Angst, profanity, and blood (after all, it's about Hibari!)

**Summary:** Tsuna has always wondered how Hibari became the person he is now. He found his answer... in the form of a diary...

--------------------------------

It was a normal day at Namimori Jr. High for Sawada Tsunayoshi.

Well, as normal as it gets nowadays. After all, what _normal_ kid has a baby as a home tutor, the Smoking Bomb Gokudera Hayato as a right hand man, and the baseball nut (who's crazy good with a sword) Yamamoto Takeshi as a friend? Not to mention that after he found out that he was to be the tenth boss of the infamous Vongola Famiglia... Well, that's just as normal as it gets now. For one thing, Gokudera was trying to shove his sticks of dynamite down Yamamoto's throat for making an unnecessary remark (something along the lines of how Gokudera was just like a loveable little puppy).

Tsuna sighed, feeling a headache coming on.

"Hey, guys, I'm gonna go to the restroom. Meet me at the courtyard."

"Alright! We'll be there, Tenth!" Gokudera chirped cheerfully, which totally contrasted with his current action of trying to strangle the life out of Yamamoto.

Tsuna shook his head and grabbed his book bag, heading out of the classroom with all the other students since the day was officially over. He meandered through the crowd and opened the door to the restroom, stepping in. It was oddly empty--he knew for a fact that the restrooms were usually crowded after school. However, he dismissed it as paranoia and headed into one of the free stalls, hanging his bag on the hook behind the door and locking it. Tsuna could hear someone move in the stall at the far end of the boys' restroom. Odd. He didn't even notice that the stall was occupied.

After he properly relieved himself, he pulled the handle of the bookbag off the hook and unlocked the door, stepping out of the stall he was in.

At the exact same time that _Hibari_ stepped out of his stall.

Now Tsuna knew the reason why no one dared to use this restroom. Hibari Kyouya was a terrifying man, and everyone gave him a wide berth considering his _intense_ dislike for crowds. That, and he wouldn't hesitate to bite anyone to death if they defile the Namimori discipline. In Tsuna's personal opinion, Hibari was the best possible choice for the position of Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee _and_ the worst. The best because he was entirely devoted to the school (for crying out loud, the school anthem is his _ringtone_). The worst because he ruled over the school with an iron fist, and a tiny little pencil mark on a wall would most likely send the man into a killing frenzy.

But there was something different about him today. For one thing, it seemed like he hadn't noticed Tsuna yet.

How odd.

Tsuna hesitantly walked up to one of the sinks to wash his hands, convinced that if he made a single little noise that Hibari would attack him. It didn't happen, however, and Tsuna gazed at him curiously. He seemed entirely disoriented. Off-balance. In a daze. Things that were very..._un_Hibari-like. Hibari finished washing his hands and stood up, and glanced at Tsuna for the first time that day. Tsuna let out a feeble, frightened 'eep' as Hibari picked up his book bag and brushed by him without so much as a second glance.

His eyes were red.

Not the irritated, shit-I-got-something-stuck-in-my-eye red.

It was the I've-been-sobbing-for-the-past-few-hours red.

Which made Tsuna infinitely curious as to who or _what_ could make Hibari cry. He didn't know such a feat was possible, as the boy was often indifferent and the only difference when Hibari was angry was a slight furrowing of the eyebrows and narrowing of the eyes. But Hibari, sobbing? Tsuna rubbed his eyes and pinched himself, direly hoping that he just had a delirious moment. Unfortunately, he was still in the bathroom, and school had just ended roughly seven minutes ago.

He shook his head and turned to leave when something caught his eye. A battered book on the floor, its cover frayed and dirty. It must be Hibari's; he should return it to the prefect as soon as possible. As he walked over and picked it up, he realized the cover was blank. Raising his eyebrow curiously (and perhaps nervously, if his suspicions were true...), he turned it slightly, looking at the spine of the book.

Nothing.

Fuck. He gulped and flipped open the cover. If this was what he thought he was, he'd be screwed. Buried twenty feet under. Upon laying his eyes on the college-ruled pages of the book, he gulped. It was a diary. A series of worst-case scenarios ran through his head. Because _oh my god_, if this is Hibari's diary he'd be so fucking _SCREWED_---

It was dated 1987.

Couldn't be. Tsuna let out a relieved sigh--although it didn't last for long. Especially not when his eyes fell upon the faded picture of the woman in the hospital gown, cradling a newborn baby in her arms. She had a very solemn face, and her waves of raven-black hair framed her soft face. She was pale, although not in a sickly way, and her lips were tilted into a small smile. Her grey-blue eyes, which reminded Tsuna of stormy ocean waters and rain that fell right at sunset, glittered from the flash of the camera. Tsuna's eyes fell to the clean, crisp writing in pen on the back of the cover of the diary.

Yamanada Hibari Amaya.

A diary belonging to Hibari's mother? Tsuna blanched as the bottom of his stomach abruptly fell out.

_Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck._

-----------------

After a few hours and a fruitless search for the intimidating head prefect, Tsuna was about to have a nervous breakdown. If Hibari found out that the diary had landed in _his_ hands, he'd promptly have the shit beaten out of him! And it wasn't like he could tell the other members of the disciplinary committee, because they were _sure_ to tell their leader! Shitshitshit! Not only that, but the doors to the reception room were locked, so he couldn't sneak in and place it on the desk ad leave undetected either.

He hastily shoved it into his book bag, making a mental note to give it back first thing tomorrow morning. Yeah, that's right.

He made his way to the courtyard before Gokudera could start worrying, and end up blowing Yamamoto up in his panic.

------------------

That night, he ran his finger over the rough cover of the diary, staring at it contemplatively. He'd always wondered how Hibari came to be the person he is now. Surely a crane didn't just drop him off in front of the Namimori gates. He itched to open the cover of the diary and start reading, but he couldn't turn the lights on since it'd probably wake Reborn up. That, and he already crossed a very important and dire line by having the diary in his possession.

Still, it couldn't hurt... could it?

He quietly slid out of his bed, crouching down and pulling out a small box out from underneath the table in the center of the room. He opened it, and pulled out a small flashlight. After placing the box back into its proper place, he climbed back into his bed and pulled the blanket over his head, turning the flashlight on.

He flipped open the cover and began reading.


	2. Affinity

**Disclaimer:** Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is not mine. Never will be mine. Oh damn it. [sighs

**Author's Notes:** This is tough to write... argh...

**Chapter Summary:** Tsuna takes a peek inside infant Hibari's life, while purposely avoiding the present, murderous Hibari whom just realized the journal is gone.

------------------

_May 5th, 1987_

_I am exhausted after being in labor for ten hours. I've given birth to my first son-- it's a miracle. He hasn't fully opened his eyes yet, but he did wail a lot right when he left the womb. He's sleeping now. Masa-kun and I have decided to name him Kyouya. Yamanada Hibari Kyouya, our precious son. I'm not looking forward to everyone hearing of the news, though-- my relatives will shower me with unnecessary gifts when just a few words of congratulations are acceptable._

-----

Tsuna raised his eyebrow. So that's where Hibari gets the indifference from.

He ran his fingers over the picture, not exactly touching the surface of it though. He turned the page, and there was another picture taken a day or two later. Wide, sky blue eyes gazed up at him, and infant Hibari sported a playful grin as he reached for the camera. The next several entries were only several sentences long. The next major entry he could find was dated roughly a year and three months later.

-----

_June 7th, 1988_

_Kyou-chan seems to have an affinity with birds. I was just talking to my friends as I pushed him around town in a stroller. A little skylark landed on the stroller hood, peering down at him curiously. He reached out to touch it, but it flew away. He was a bit disappointed, but he watched it until it was only a dot in the sky. My friends say that he shares my curiousity with birds. I am inclined to agree. One of my friends managed to catch it on camera. My husband smiled and laughed at it._

------

Right underneath the entry was a small photograph. The one year-old Hibari's eyes were wide open and he was leaning out of his seat reaching for the skylark that gazed curiously at him.

Tsuna had to admit, it was a cute photograph (although if Hibari knew he was reading this, and that he thought that, he'd be dead). Funny how the bird that they were both named after had taken such a fascination with the little boy. And when he thought of the yellow bird that was always perched on Hibari's shoulder, it made sense in its own weird little way. Hibari himself was just like a skylark, soaring high above the clouds. Incredibly tough to bring down, even when his body was already broken like in his fight with Mukuro.

Even the illusionist agreed that Hibari Kyouya was a frightening man.

He skimmed through the next several pages. Several little pictures (there was a particularly cute one where Hibari held a large canary plushie), but the entries were extremely short. It seems as if Hibari's mom disliked going into detail about her life and was always able to summarize what happened during the days in a sentence or two. He was just about to skip over another entry when a picture caught his eye.

Hibari's mom was holding onto Hibari, whom gazed at the camera with an impatient frown on his face, his eyes a darker blue than all the previous pictures he'd seen. This time though, there was a man in the picture. His arms were wrapped around Amaya's shoulder, and he flashed a grin at the camera that reminded Tsuna of a wolf. His eyes were amber, and he had rough, short, wild black hair. This man was Hibari's father...? Tsuna studied the picture intensely, his eyes flickering back and forth between Amaya and the man--Masahiro, the caption said--and closed his eyes, conjuring up a headshot of Hibari.

He, with absolutely no doubt whatsoever, had his mother's eyes and soft but firm lips (he blushed upon realizing this was the first thing he noticed besides the eyes).

He had his father's eyebrows, strong nose and sharp, defined jaw. As for his build, he was safely in the middle. He wasn't as slim as his mother or as muscular as his father. He had a much more slender build, and his muscles weren't incredibly noticeable but they were there.

He opened his eyes, flipping towards the next entry, deciding that this was the last he'd read before giving the diary back to its rightful owner first thing tomorrow morning.

------------------

_September 20th, 1990_

_I'm... worried, to say the least._

_Masahiro is... distancing himself from me. Drinking often, and he's not as cheery as he usually is. It wasn't really noticeable until today when he yelled at Kyou-chan for tugging on his hair--an action which usually earned a laugh from him and he'd pick the boy up and spin around in circles. The poor boy was frightened into silence and wouldn't let go of Sachiko (the stuffed canary). I confronted Masa-kun about it, but he just scowled, pushed me aside and promptly left the house. That's when I noticed a part of a tattoo peeking out from underneath his shirt collar._

_A new one. One that I could instantly _tell_ covered his whole body, and one that he could hide underneath his clothing. _

_What is he thinking, going down that path?_

-------------

Tsuna slowly closed the diary, shutting off the flashlight and pulling the blanket down to his shoulders.

He slid it under his pillow, resting his head on it and stared off at some point on the opposite wall.

Suddenly, he didn't want to give it back. Not if it meant that he'd finally understand. Not after what he just read. Especially if Masahiro did, indeed, join a local yakuza. Somehow, he had a feeling that it'd continue in a downward spiral. He needed to give it back--it felt too personal now, and he was digging into business he shouldn't be digging in---but he just couldn't.

He shut his eyes, shoving the negative thoughts to the back of his mind as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

-------------

The next morning, he went to school sleepy and disoriented. He had a dream last night, but could only recall bits and pieces of it.

One tidbit being toddler Hibari frightened, clutching onto his stuffed plushie, his eyes opened wide.

It wasn't until he step foot onto the Namimori campus and laid his eyes upon the head prefect that he realized he didn't have the diary with him. Which was a bad thing, but also an incredibly good thing as said head prefect was making a beeline for him, looking particularly murderous. Gokudera and Yamamoto noticed the hostile aura coming from him, and they were instantly on guard. And him? He swallowed nervously and took a step back. It was much more frightening this time as he _knew_ the reason why Hibari was so angry.

"Sawada. I need to have a word with you." His face was twisted into a scowl, and Gokudera snarled.

"What the hell do you want with the Tenth, bastard?" Hibari didn't even spare him a glance before snapping.

"It doesn't concern you, or the other weak herbivore beside him. Leave the two of us alone, or I will bite you to death here and now." Gokudera was about to lunge at the prefect and rip out his throat and would've succeeded, if Yamamoto and Tsuna didn't hold him back.

"Gokudera-kun! Please, calm down!" Tsuna yelled as he held on to the boy's arm. "All he wants to do is talk!"

"But Tenth--"

"I'll be alright, Gokudera-kun. I'll see you guys at lunch, okay?" Tsuna flashed Gokudera a reassuring smile, and he stopped his furious attempts to get free. He glared at Hibari, clearly not trusting him at all.

"Fine. But if you're late, Tenth, I will storm up to the reception room and shove some dynamite down his throat!"

Tsuna sweatdropped as Yamamoto pulled Gokudera away from the two and towards their classroom. Now if only his heart would stop beating incredibly fast for fear of something bad happening, that would be great also. He turned around and immediately cowered under the icy, feline glare that Hibari fixed upon him. Without another word, the boy pivoted on his heels and started walking, and Tsuna took that as his cue to follow. Five minutes later in complete, awkward silence, they made it to the reception room.

It was empty.

Hibari shut the door with more force than necessary and Tsuna felt as if his soul jumped out of his body for a few seconds. He kept a cautious eye on the older male as he walked around him, perching on the arm rest of the leather couch in front of him.

"Do you have it?"

Fuck.

"Uh.. h-have what?" He took a step back, and immediately regretted it as Hibari narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"Don't play stupid. You were in the restroom that I was in, and that was the only place where I could've misplaced the book."

Dear Kami-sama. Please grant Tsuna the ability to lie so that he'd survive long enough to tell the truth later on in a time where Hibari WON'T beat him into a bloody pulp. Tsuna blanched, and waved his hands wildly.

"I-I-I d-don't have it! I swear! I don't have it! I didn't even know you lost a book until right now!!" Tsuna whimpered, and when Hibari shifted, he instinctively shut his eyes and made an attempt to block a move that he couldn't even see.

The next second, he was shoved into the door with a loud slam and let out a pained gasp. The cold steel of his collapsible tonfa was pressed hard into his neck, almost hard enough to restrict his breathing entirely. Tsuna gazed up at him, utterly terrified. He was close enough that Tsuna could see every individual eyelash, all the cracks in his dried lips, and the specks of cerulean blue hidden in the darker hues in his irises. Close enough that he could feel the warm breath ghost across his cheeks.

Under different circumstances, he would've turned a beet red from their close proximity. But he was much too scared at the moment to even _think_ about that.

"You're lying. Is there any reason why I shouldn't bite you to death?"

Tsuna opened his mouth, and was about to reply when there came a sharp knock on the door. Hibari eased up and Tsuna reached for his neck, rubbing it as he gasped for air. He opened the door to find Kusakabe standing behind it.

"Sir, one of the third year delinquents set off a stink bomb in the east wing--- was I interrupting something?" Hibari glanced over at Tsuna and back at Kusakabe.

"No." He promptly left, heading for the east wing, and Tsuna was entirely grateful for the intervention.


	3. Downward Spiral

**Disclaimer:** No, no, no. _Still_ don't own it. _Never_ will.

**Author's Notes:** I recommend listening to "Zhi Zhan Zhi Shang" by Jay Chou once Tsuna gets back home and opens the diary. Seriously. It's the song I've been listening to on repeat as I write this. XDDD

**Chapter Summary:** Tsuna is able to escape Hibari's wrath with some scratches, and proceeds to read the next few entries in the diary.

------

Tsuna sat down on the grass in the shade of a large sakura tree on the campus-- it became their official lunch spot since none of them were in the same class anymore. It was barely a few seconds later when Gokudera came running up with an ecstatic grin, tailed by Yamamoto.

"TENTH!! You're alright!!"

Tsuna grinned.

"I told you I'd be okay, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but I still don't trust the bastard..."

"I just heard that Hibari beat up a five third-years because they set off a stink bomb in the east wing." Yamamoto sat down, placing the bento inbetween the three of them. Gokudera nodded as he snatched a pair of chopsticks from Yamamoto's hands.

"Yeah, I heard that. The bombs went off right down the hall and the bastard came swooping down there like a hawk. Glad his talk with you wasn't long, Tenth."

It wasn't long, but a _lot_ can happen when you're in a room alone with _the_ Hibari Kyouya. Even if it only lasted five minutes, that was enough for a lifetime for Tsuna. Honestly. He didn't feel like losing his life anytime soon, and this morning he came very close to that. Once again, he was glad when Kusakabe came and told Hibari of the stink bombs, forcing Hibari to leave him alone to go deal with another nuisance. But now that Hibari had taken care of said nuisance, what was he to do once the prefect decided that _he_ needed to be taken care of?

"Oi, Tenth, are you okay?" Gokudera waved his hand furiously in front of Tsuna's face.

"Yeah! I'm fine..."

"What did he talk to you about, Tsuna-kun?" Yamamoto asked after he swallowed a mouthful of rice.

"Uh... he.. lost a book yesterday." Tsuna felt bad for lying to them, but he really didn't want to mention the diary or its contents. If he did, he was pretty sure that Gokudera would try to convince him to use it as blackmail against Hibari. The thing was, he didn't want to.

------------------

Tsuna slammed his face into his pillow with a thoroughly frustrated groan.

He wanted to read more of the entries, but was entirely held back from doing so by I-pin and Lambo. The two were extremely rambunctious and irritating, especially with Lambo's tendencies to steal something of I-pins, which ends up in a wild goose chase around the house which ends up with HIM getting in trouble because something gets spilled or broken. Now, it was currently 22:41 (10:41) P.M., and everyone was asleep. Thank god. He reached underneath his pillow, snatched the flashlight, and flipped open the diary to the next entry.

------------------

_January 15th, 1991_

_Masa-kun has calmed down a bit since the last entry I made several months ago. We had several arguments, most of which ended with him storming out in between. I am glad that he has mellowed in the time being. I discovered today that Kyou-chan does not like sweets. I gave him a tiny piece of cake and he promptly spit it back out. He has taken a liking for rice balls though. _

_We went to the zoo yesterday. Kyou-chan really loved the exhibits with birds. A peacock got close enough for him to touch and surprisingly did not fly away. I think it's the first time I've ever seen Kyou-chan smile so brightly. We also saw a majority of other animals, although he didn't show any particular interest in the rest of them. Masa-kun took this picture!_

-----------------

Tsuna smiled. Amaya was crouched down next to Hibari, her hand on his shoulder as he reached out, his fingers touching the peacock's beak. The peafowl looked as if he was bowing, which made the picture that much more intense, enigmatic, and other words that Tsuna couldn't think of at the moment. Hibari's smile was so bright, and his eyes shone in the sunlight that seeped in between the leaves of the trees in the background. Since the picture was monochrome, it made the emotions of the picture much more clear.

He truly did have an affinity with birds.

He yawned a bit, flipping to the next entry dated roughly seven months later. He furrowed his eyebrows; the handwriting was sloppy, rushed, and there were several spots where the writing was blotched from dried tears. He squinted his eyes and read it.

----------------

_July 27th, 1991_

_Masa-kun was shot today. I'm currently writing this as I wait for news. He's currently in the ICU. God damn he did join the yakuza after all and his tendencies when he's drunk go beyond suicidal. I should've kept an eye on him. Dear god I hope he doesn't die from it. They said he was bleeding profusely, but refused to tell me anything else. I don't want him to die and leave me alone, and for Kyou-chan to grow up with so little memories of his father!_

_Kami-sama, just grant him some more time, it's too damn early for him to die!_

----------------

Tsuna hastily flipped to the next entry, and let out a relieved sigh when he didn't see an "R.I.P" message. The next entry was about how Masahiro survived, but didn't go into detail other than how grateful Amaya was that he was alive after being shot. It was a bloody miracle. The next several pages were filled with snapshots. Most of which were of Hibari, whom sported shy smiles in some of them, and in the majority of them had the familiar, indifferent frown.

There was one entry where, upon reading it, Tsuna's blood froze for a second.

----------------

_October 31st, 1991_

_A woman._

_That was the problem. All those nights where he came home drunk. All those nights where he ignored me and Kyouya. I can't believe I didn't figure it out until said woman waltzed out of _our_ house. Lithe, with all the curves that I don't have and god he fucking kissed her! KISSED HER!_

_That night, I didn't even go home. It'd smell like cheap perfume and sex--I already know it from the looks on their faces. I went over to my brother's apartment--he was a bit late from wrapping up business at Namimori Jr. High, but he let me in and when I told him what happened, he asked me how Masahiro could do such a thing and that I should break it off immediately._

_The problem is, I still love him. I still do._


	4. Fragmented

**Disclaimer:** No. It still belongs to Akira Amano.

**Author's Notes:** [bites self to death

**Dedicated To:** Manganra for pointing out a HUGE mistake that I made. XX Thank you! It's been corrected!

**Chapter Summary:** Tsuna realizes he has no urge to give the diary back now--not since he might get all his unasked questions answered.

------------------------

_November 25th, 1991_

_I keep seeing the woman around. Sleeping next to Masahiro makes me feel filthy because the bed is filthy. Kyouya doesn't realize what is going on, and for that I am grateful. I do not want him to grow up holding a grudge against his father. If he can even call him that any more. I sure can't call Masahiro my beloved any longer. Not when he invites another woman to _our_ bed. I still do not know that woman's name. And he acts as if I don't know that he's been meeting with her. Every time I hint at it, he circumvents the topic. It makes me wonder... where did I go wrong? How did I go wrong? What did I do to make him join the yakuza and turn his back on his just-born family? Can anyone even answer that question?_

-------------------------

Tsuna shut his eyes, shivering.

How would _he_ feel if his father was screwing another woman behind his mom's back? And then his mom eventually found out? How would he feel if his father didn't care for him at all, left him and his mother behind? He opened his eyes, fingering the next page. It was 1:21 A.M. He should be asleep. Still, he couldn't help it. He wanted to read _more_, wanted to know. Wanted to solve the enigma that was Hibari Kyouya. And the question that was lingering in the edges of his conciousness...

_How_ did Hibari feel about all of this?

-------------------------

_December 29th, 1991_

_I've tried countlessly to keep him distracted. Keep him here._

_Doesn't work._

_I wake up in the middle of the night to find the other side of the bed empty. I go back to sleep. When I wake up, he's there. It's like nothing ever happened, although I know for a fact he's been seeing her still. I didn't bother hinting this time and just asked him who the woman was. He played dumb. I went into detail. Long, honey brown hair. Always in fishnets, a skirt and boots. Has the look of the mafia boss' woman. He slammed his hand on the table and said that it wasn't my goddamn business. That's bullshit. Of course it's my goddamn business! He's fraternizing with another woman and god DAMN it, I will not have this marriage fall apart when Kyouya is only THREE years old!_

_His only response was to slash open my hand with a knife._

-----------------------

He couldn't sleep that night.

Saturday morning, he was laying in his bed still, staring at the ceiling. Not even I-pin and Lambo running around in circles on top of him could snap him out of his daze. A kick to the face from Reborn did nothing either. Everyone started to think that he was ill and left him alone while they went shopping. About twenty minutes after they left, he finally got up and freshened up. He finally found time during the day to read the diary, except now he didn't really want to.

He already _knew_ what was coming.

Reading it felt like sinning. It was none of his business in the first place, but finding out that Hibari's parent's marriage was already off to a bad start when he was only three...

He pulled on a jacket. Perhaps he'd take a walk. Tsuna's gaze flickered over to the pillow that the diary was under, and decided that it couldn't hurt to bring it. It wasn't like he was going to bump into anyone that he knew from school, right? He subconciously reached for it, but then decided against it. Chances were that something bad was going to happen. He learned long ago to not annoy certain times where paranoia creeped up upon him because he ended up being right all those times.

Tsuna shivered a bit upon stepping out and locking the door behind him. It was starting to get cold now that summer was officially over. He started walking while pondering over Hibari's personality and his life.

Surely a divorce couldn't make Hibari _that_ indifferent, _that_ angry, and that _obsessed_ with Namimori. Something else must have happened between then and now.

So absorbed in his thoughts that he was, that Tsuna didn't even realize where he was until he lost his footing spectacularly and rolled down a hill screaming. And stopped upside down...

Right in front of Hibari.

"E-EHHH!? Hibari-san! What are you doing he---WHAT AM I DOING HERE!?!?" Tsuna screamed as he jumped to his feet. Stretching for what seemed like miles in every direction was a cemetery. He was right smack dab in the middle of it with Hibari glowering at him.

Oh _shit_ he was going to _die._ Right here, right now, at what seemed to be the perfect place to die because god_damn_, he's in a cemetary and Hibari's going to---

"DON'T KIIILL MEE!!" Tsuna whined, dropping to his knees and covering his head.

"Shut up."

He opened one eye, peering at Hibari through his brown strands of hair. The boy looked distinctly annoyed, but he lacked the "I'll bite you to death" glare that he usually wore whenever Tsuna managed to aggravate him in some unknown way.

"It's disrespectful to the spirits."

It was just then that Tsuna noticed Hibari was wearing _normal_ clothes for once (although he was absolutely sure that Hibari was carrying around the prefect armband still). A white, non-descript T-shirt with a white hooded jacket, and rough, bleached jeans. In his hand was a large bouquet of two dozen Japanese lilies, white with specks of magenta on the petals. It was incredibly awkward, because in this overcast day, Hibari didn't seem hostile at all. If it wasn't for the fact that the grass was itching like fuck and Tsuna was shivering, he'd be convinced that he was imagining this whole entire thing.

"...Hibari-san...?"

Hibari didn't answer and just turned around, walking further into into the cemetery. After several moments, Tsuna followed. Hibari didn't seem to mind or care, and Tsuna nearly bumped into him when he came to an abrupt stop. Tsuna stepped out from behind Hibari and gazed down at the grave marker before him.

_Yamanada Hibari Amaya_

_January 14th, 1965 - November 5th, 1993_

_Beloved mother and sister._

The anniversary of her death was three days ago, when Tsuna found the diary. His breath hitched in his throat and he gazed at Hibari. _That_ was why he was crying... if Tsuna did the math correctly, Hibari was only five when his mother died. It came down to this...?

Hibari silently placed the bouquet on the grave, running his fingers lightly over the words carved into the granite before straightening and fixing his eyes on Tsuna. Tsuna swallowed nervously at the unfamiliar emotions in the boy's eyes, and he drowned in the dark stormy depths.

"I don't need your pity, Sawada."

"E-Eh?"

"I don't need your pity." Tsuna realized that Hibari had read him like an open book and shook his head furiously.

"I--I wasn't giving you pity, Hibari-san." By the look on Hibari's face, he could tell the other man wanted him to prove it. "You're... the strongest individual I know of. You're frightening, scary, intimidating... but that day when I saw you crying, I couldn't help but wonder. Who made Hibari cry? What could possibly make him cry? Because you're the kind of person that responds to insult and humiliation by fighting back and beating people to a pulp, so it had to be a more obscure reason. Something a lot more painful. And then finding out that she died when you were only five...do you miss her a lot?"

"...Yes, I do." Hibari closed his eyes, relaxing a bit as a breeze ruffled through his hair. Tsuna found that he could not tear his eyes away. "All I can remember is that she reminded me of rain..."

For lack of words, Tsuna did something that no sane or suicidal person would dare to do--not where Hibari Kyouya was concerned.

He slowly wrapped his arms around the older boy, resting his head against Hibari's chest. Tsuna could hear his heartbeat, feel his warmth through his shirt. Hibari tensed up for a second, probably in shock. After a few seconds though, he reciprocated, pulling Tsuna into the hug and resting his chin on the younger boy's shoulder.

They remained like that for several awkward moments before Tsuna pulled away, looking up at Hibari. The boy's eyes softened somewhat, but the frown never left his face.

"Forgive me for asking.. but... how did she die?"

Hibari narrowed his eyes marginally, and Tsuna felt that familiar chill slide down his spine and made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

"She didn't _die_, Sawada. She was _murdered_."


	5. Vanishing Hopes

**Disclaimer:** [throws a rock at the lawyers I DON'T OWN IT!! I KNOOOOW THAAAAAT!!

**Author's Note:** ...If it seems like I'm making Hibari emo, keep in mind I'm trying to show how he became the person that he is, so he has to go through all the hardships. XP

**Dedicated to:** ... LIFE. Because honestly, there's no better thing to base things off of than real life. Also dedicated to everyone who has followed this fic thus far! Thanks for reading!

**Chapter Summary:** Since Hibari refused to go into details, Tsuna turns to the diary once more.

-------------------------------

Tsuna sprinted home after Hibari decided that he said too much and needed to bite him to death _immediately_. Naturally, Tsuna turn and ran for his life and was surprised that Hibari did not follow. At the speed he was running, it'd be easy for the other boy to catch up to him and pummel him into the ground. Tsuna hadn't felt this winded since after his fight with Mukuro when he was shot by the Rebuke Bullet. That had confined him to bed for two weeks since he was in pain from muscle soreness.

He fell down on the floor of his room with a groan of exhaustion.

So, in the weirdest of ways, Hibari was just like Gokudera. Their mothers were deceased. The one major difference between the two laid in their personalities. Gokudera was an enthusiastic individual whom expressed his annoyance by screaming death threats and then shoving dynamite down someone's throat. The only hint that you get from Hibari is his line "I'll bite you to death" before he whips out his collapsible steel tonfa and lunges at you. The two weren't really all that different, now that he thought about it. Although Hibari won't stop until the source of his annoyance is in the hospital or _dead_.

As he continued comparing and contrasting the two, he reached for the diary and flipped it open to the next entry.

-------------------------------

_April 15th, 1992_

_The fights don't happen as much anymore._

_Mainly since he hasn't really come and stayed home since the evening he cut my hand open. It's healed now, but left a dark scar on my left hand. I am not able to move it as much as I did in the past also. Kyouya witnessed the whole thing and hardly leaves the bedroom nowadays. Every night I wake up to him tossing around in bed, still awake. It seems that he has trouble sleeping._

-------------------------------

That particular entry reminded Tsuna of that one (extremely horrible, wish he could FORGET) day where he was stuck in Namimori hospital with Hibari as a roommate. The boy is such a light sleeper, you'd have to be a statue in order to avoid getting killed when rooming with him. Which Tsuna, unfortunately, could not avoid due to I-pin and Lambo. That was an extremely painful experience. Though he had to wonder where Hibari got the light sleeping habit from. Possibly this?

Then again, Tsuna couldn't blame him. If he witnessed such a thing as a child, he'd have trouble sleeping also.

------------------------------

_June 13th, 1992_

_He came home and stayed home for the first time in ages. He instantly greeted Kyou-chan, although the boy was hesitant to go near his father for several hours. He apologized for his rash actions and handed me a bouquet of Japanese lilies with a smile that I haven't seen for a while._

_Things aren't going to get better, but at least now I can pretend, for Kyouya's sake._

-----------------------------

Well, that was unexpected.

As was Lambo bursting through the door with I-pin at his tail. Tsuna let out a cry of shock as the toddler jumped on him, and quickly shoved the diary into his jacket. He hissed vehemently and hoped that Lambo was as ignorant and clueless as he usually was and didn't notice that.

"That's my rice ball, Lambo! Give it back!" That's what I-pin said, although no one could understand her since (except for Reborn) since she was screaming it in Mandarin. She proceeded to chase Lambo around the room and out, and back down the stairs.

Tsuna groaned. At this rate, it wouldn't be safe for him to read the diary until nightfall.

Which was exactly what happened. Several long hours later, he pulled it out and turned on the flashlight, beginning his night ritual for the past few days.

---------------------------------

_August 4th, 1992_

_He's still seeing the woman._

_The balls on that man and his lack of brains..._

_I've finally figured out her name now. It's Savanna. A foreigner with half-Japanese blood in her. He was talking to her last night and I checked the phone this morning. Perhaps I'll have to contact her, sit down with her, and have a little chat along the lines of "You realize he's MARRIED, right?" When that time comes, I'll have to take Kyouya to Tatsuya's (my brother) house. I don't want him to witness anything that goes down._

---------------------------------

Tsuna flipped through the next several pages, and to his surprise, the next entry was roughly one year later.

---------------------------------

_August 10th, 1993_

_I've just contacted the woman. She tried to put me at knife point saying that I was a liar._

_I pulled out my ID. Yamanada Hibari Amaya. It was no lie. She didn't believe me and lunged at me. She managed to catch me across the cheek before I kicked her back and ran out of the house. Apparently, the woman is a gold-digger by the way she talked about Masahiro. I would have visited my brother tonight, but I don't want Kyouya to see me as I am now. That, and I have to talk to Masahiro. I have no doubts that he'll be told a warped version of the story by Savanna, and then try to take out his anger on me._

_I hope he will believe me, and not her._

--------------------------------

_September 27th, 1993_

_He fumed and raved and screamed at me._

_Apparently, the woman told him that I broke into her house trying to steal valuable items and that she attacked me with a knife in self defense. What bullshit. Even worse, he wouldn't listen to my explanation. Calls me a dirty fucking liar. I don't lie about things like that, unlike him, who's been living a lie for the past year and a half. _

_We decided on a divorce. I'm moving out. Once I can find an apartment and move all my stuff in, I'll pick Kyouya back up and carry on with life._

--------------------------------

The next several pages were empty. The next thing that Tsuna came upon was an article cut out from a newspaper.

In the picture was a woman. She lay in the middle of the road, and a little boy was crouched down next to her, hugging her as he sobbed his heart out. There was so much _blood_ and looking at it made Tsuna sick to his stomach. The entry beneath it was much sloppier, and in a different hand. That of Hibari's uncle, Hibari Tatsuya.

-------------------------------

_November 6th, 1993_

_Amaya-neesan was on her way to pick Kyouya up yesterday. We were waiting for her a block away from my apartment complex. She smiled and waved at us as she crossed the street._

_Two bullets, straight into the side of her head. They didn't stop there, no. They hit her with their fucking car and drove off. She died instantly and Kyouya witnessed the whole thing. He's currently in bed now, but he's not sleeping. His eyes are wide, and it's as if Amaya's spirit stole his soul away. I know for a fact mine is already gone. This is her bastard husband's doing, I know it. They've been at each other throats for the past year and it got bad after she contacted the woman that he was having an affair with._

_But why did they have to kill her!? She was leaving his life so that she could rebuild her home! How could they take away Kyouya's mother, my _sister_ when all she wanted was happiness!?_

-------------------------------

Tsuna slowly closed the journal, sliding it under his pillow.

He forced his eyes shut, as tears leaked out from under his eyelids. He silently cried himself to sleep as he pictured how it all happened in vivid detail.


	6. Disguise

**Disclaimer:** I don't own it. It belongs to Akira Amano, end of story!

**Author's Note:** AHAFSKJDHF!?!? Thank you to everyone for reading, favoriting, reviewing, and adding this story to their story alert! T-T I didn't think anyone would like it because it's so rushed and just something I need to get out of my system... perhaps I will revise it once I am finished! Meanwhile, GO KICK SOME ASS, HIBARI[Shinji then jumps out a window to avoid being butchered by a certain murderous head prefect.

**Chapter Summary:** As Tsuna continues reading the diary (while hiding it from everyone), he finds the events that shape Hibari's life.

------------------------------------

Tsuna blinks, and he finds himself standing on the corner of an unfamiliar road.

He's pretty sure that he's still in Namimori, but he hasn't been to this part of town before. It isn't a run-down part of town filled with dilapidated houses, but it is a heck of a lot more crowded than what he was used to. Instead of two-story houses, there are large apartment complexes and condominiums on every block and Tsuna just feels like he's shrunk to half his normal size.

Despite how the buildings crowded this part of town, it is peacefully quiet. A flock of crows fly out from a nearby tree, and Tsuna is startled by the sudden sound of flapping wings. It isn't until they became specks on the horizon that Tsuna hears another the sound. The sound of footsteps. The familiar _clack_ on hard concrete that is made from a pair of feet clad in heels of some sorts. He looks back down, and a woman is walking towards him, across the street from where he currently stands. She is at least two heads taller than he is, with waves of silky ebony hair, a pale complexion, and the coldest grey-blue eyes that he's ever seen before.

It is Hibari's mother, Amaya.

She has a purse slung over her shoulders, and is dressed in a black turtleneck sweater with a beige over coat and tight, fitting jeans. She is also sporting some boots, and the clacking sound gets louder when she gets to the corner. She looks up, flashes a smile, and for a second Tsuna thinks that she's smiling and waving at him. A movement in the corner of his peripheral vision catches his attention and he turns to his left where a tall, clean-shaven man with hair that vaguely reminds him of Dino's stands with a boy of five years. Hibari Tatsuya and Hibari Kyouya.

"Mommy!" The toddler Hibari cries, waving his arm frantically as a smile lights up his face. Amaya smiles back and hurries to cross the street. Tsuna pales when he realizes just what's coming next.

Two muffled shots. Two bullets ripping through her skull and she still has that grateful, relieved expression on her face. She tilts forward, but before a second passes, a sports car with tinted window hits her full on going 40 kph, and she is catapulted into the air before landing with a loud thud several yards away from where Hibari and his uncle stands. His uncle lets out an infuriated, angry, vengeful cry while Hibari stands there with wide eyes, clearly not understanding what is going on.

Tsuna covers his mouth, feeling the bile rise as his stomach does several uncomfortable flips. The smell of blood is so clear, and it smothers him with that undesirable, unbearable metallic scent. Several droplets are splattered onto Hibari's face and clothes, and he wobbles over to the body of his mother. Shakes it. And Tsuna knows Hibari's never going to get an answer from her anymore, and watching him stand there shaking his mother's body futilely makes his heart stop before restarting painfully.

Hibari's uncle, Tatsuya, frantically dials the number for the police. A murder has happened right in front of him, and he and Hibari are the witnesses. Tsuna swallows and finds that his throat is painfully dry, and he can't tear his eyes away from Hibari's shaking form as just begins to realize that mommy's not going to wake. Not now, never again. Large tears appear at the corner of his eyes before spilling, and he's letting out those choked sobs that Tsuna _just can't bear to hear._

Hibari opens his mouth to speak, but instead of the voice of a toddler coming out, Tsuna hears a strained, tenor voice belonging to the present Hibari.

"Why, father? _Why?_"

He realizes then that Hibari is looking at him, if not through him, when something cold and hard presses against the back of his head. He hears a soft _click_, the sound of a safety button being turned off.

"Now, you'll watch someone you love die."

Tsuna freezes and his eyes shut as a loud _bang_ shakes the air, but instead of a painful sensation ripping through his skull before nothingness, he hears another thud of a body. His eyes open slowly, afraid of what he'll see. And he is.

The seventeen year-old Hibari, dead from a bullet to the heart.

------------------------------------

"_HIIIIBAAAAARRRIIIIII_!!!!!!!"

Tsuna shot up from his bed, his eyes currently blinded from panic, drowsiness, and the insanely bright light from the lamp on the nearby table. His breath came to him in panicked gasps and he pressed a hand to his cheeks, finding it moist with tears that he shed throughout the night. After realizing that it was a (frighteningly real) nightmare, he gained control over his breathing and rubbed his eyes. It was just a nightmare, nothing else. It was not _real_, and god damn it Hibari is ALIVE and probably dozing off at his own place of residence so CALM DOWN.

But it had looked so _real_.

When he opened his eyes after the deafening gunshot in the dream world, Hibari lay at his feet, a droplet of blood on the corner of his lips. They were beginning to turn into that cold, pale blue, but his eyes... the pupils were dilated and they _stared_ Tsuna down, and Tsuna felt so many emotions in that deadened gaze that he couldn't even find _WORDS_ to describe it! It frightened him, because he looked up to Hibari, whom refused to back down despite his body being a bit more than a torn apart rag doll. He wished he could possess that kind of determination and perseverance that Hibari seemed to be born with. And goddamn, if anyone took him down...

Tsuna couldn't bear to think of what would happen. Thankfully, he was thrown off that particular train of thought when someone came flying from the right and he was thrown against the wall with a painful crash.

"OWOWOWOWOWOW!! What the heck was that for, Reborn!?!?!" Tsuna whined as he rubbed his abused cheek. Reborn landed on the bed in front of him and pointed a small index finger at Tsuna.

"That was for making maman worry. She heard you scream from the kitchen."

_I screamed that loud?_ Tsuna sweatdropped. "Oh my god... she didn't hear what I said though, right?"

"No."

Thank god.

"But I did."

_I take that back_. If it was the _one person_ Tsuna did NOT want to discover the diary or his frequent nightmares concerning Hibari, it was Reborn. Because no matter what happens, if Reborn finds out, the mafia is going to get dragged into it somehow.

"Why were you screaming Hibari's name? He didn't ravish you senseless in your dream, did he?"

"_WHAT!?_" Tsuna squealed, his cheeks turning a beet red from the impossibility of Reborn's assumption. "He did NOT!! I was just having a nightmare, that's all! Jeez, don't jump to conclusions like that, Reborn!!!"

"It was just a joke, Tsuna. Anyway, maman wants you to go buy some sweets from the cafe since she already has her hands full cooking dinner."

"Cooking dinner? Isn't it a bit early to be cooking dinner?"

"It's already five in the afternoon."

"That can't be right--" He glanced at the clock. Exactly five o'clock. "_WHAT!?_ I slept for that long?!?!!"

"Yamamoto and Gokudera came by earlier to see if you could hang out, but you were sleeping. They're worried and they think that you have a fever so I had to reassure them that you're fine. Maman said you looked extremely tired these past few days so she didn't want them to wake you up. Gokudera complained profusely, of course." Tsuna could almost imagine Gokudera attempting to storm up to his room and check on him, claiming that if he was going to be the Tenth's right hand man one day, the _least_ he could do was at least check to see if he was alright.

"That sounds just like Gokudera-kun." Tsuna laughed and scratched the back of his head. Reborn smiled, but kicked him in the shins. "OW!"

"Go pick up the dessert! I'm hungry and I want some sweets also!"

"Damn it, Reborn, you didn't have to do that, you know!"

-----------------------------------------------------

And that's how Tsuna found himself in town, mingling in with the youth and elders that were occupying the sidewalks at that time. In his pocket was the thirty dollars his mom had given him for purchasing the large cake for dessert. The sun was low in the horizon, and the sky was a mixture of red, orange, blue, and indigo. The street lights were beginning to blink on, and despite having slept for over twelve hours, Tsuna began to feel a bit drowsy again.

Though that didn't last for long; his stomach voiced a _very_ loud complaint on how Tsuna was not feeding it.

"I better hurry up and buy the cake so I can get home and eat dinner." Tsuna whispered to himself as he sweatdropped.

The bakery was just a block away, and he jogged across the street to it, slowing down once he reached the sidewalk. Tsuna walked up to the glass door and pulled it open, inhaling the warm scent of freshly baked pastries and cappucino. There was a line for orders, but he didn't mind waiting. After all, it was quite cozy and warm in here compared to the chilly weather outside. As he waited in the line, he examined his surroundings. The whole room had a very mellow color scheme based on warm brown and red hues. There were several little wooden tables placed around the cafe, and they were only meant for two patrons each. A lot of the patrons happened to be around his age, out on dates, and there were some that were older than he was.

He was so busy looking around that he didn't notice that he stepped out of line and was currently blocking a waiter's path to a table. The waiter elbowed him and Tsuna jumped, opening his mouth to spurt out an apology for zoning out. It died on his lips. Why, you ask?

Yes, indeed. The waiter was Hibari.

"Hibari-san!" Several heads turned their way at Tsuna's exclamation, and the boy quickly covered his mouth in embarassment. He also recoiled from the particularly annoyed gaze that Hibari had fixed on him, and he wondered why.

"I'm sorry, sir, you seem to have the wrong person." Tsuna was about to protest, but his conscience told him to keep his mouth shut for a second. That, and Hibari did not seem to be in the mood to be interrupted. "If you take a seat in the corner, I'll take your orders once I pass by."

It was not a suggestion, it was an order. Wondering what could have Hibari so uptight and irritated this evening, Tsuna obediently shuffled over to the vacant table in the corner of the cafe. He kept his eyes on the head prefect the entire time. The boy made his way over to a table on the opposite side of the room where two bubbly high school girls were seated. They grinned at Hibari and from what Tsuna could see, were making an impressive attempt to flirt with the boy.

Of course, from here, even Tsuna could tell that it was not working and Hibari looked like he desperately wanted to put one between his own eyes. Or push the girls off a cliff. Tsuna vaguely wondered why Hibari decided to work here if he hated crowds so much. After all, it was incredibly busy and Hibari was surrounded by the type of people that he hated to the extremes. Hibari pivoted on his heels and headed for Tsuna, and Tsuna sweatdropped when he realized that the two girls were checking out a piece of human anatomy that they had a perfect view to as he sauntered over. Hibari flipped to a different page on the notepad, with a pen at the ready.

"May I take your order?"

"Uh, yes..." Tsuna glanced up at the nametag. "Inoue-san. I'll have a large black cherry cake with raspberries to go." Hibari scribbled it down, and Tsuna was confused as to why Hibari took so long to write down one order.

"And a drink?"

"Um... I'll take a can of orange soda."

"Alright." Hibari wrote the last of it down and calculated the price on the mini-calculator in his hands. It spurted out a receipt and he handed it to Tsuna, whom took it out of his hands. As Hibari walked away, Tsuna realized that he must've given the page on which he wrote the orders down on.

"Hi---Inoue-san! I think you---" Tsuna's fell onto the words on the paper and he shut up.

_Shut up, herbivore, and refrain from referring to me as Hibari here or I'll bite you to death. Once I come by with your drink, move to a table outside and tell me as if I did not tell you to do so. Do not make eye contact with anyone and keep your eyes off me.. I will explain the reason why later if you manage to follow my instructions correctly._

Tsuna looked up, and Hibari was already walking towards him with a can of soda in his hand. Tsuna accepted it, and obeyed the instructions on the paper as he slipped them into his pockets.

"Ah thanks! Anyway, is it okay if I move to a table outside? I'm feeling kind of claustrophobic in here."

"That's perfectly fine, sir. I assume you're in a hurry? Do you want to pay now?"

"Yeah!" Tsuna handed him the thirty dollars. "Don't worry about the change, I don't need it!"

"Thank you, sir. I'll bring you the cake soon."

Tsuna left the cafe and shivered as the icy wind bit into his cheeks. He sat down at a table near where the corner of the cafe would be if he were still inside. He was still curious as to why Hibari wouldn't want Tsuna to mention his name in public. As he gazed into the restaurant, he found his answer.

A woman, draped in black and fishnets with auburn hair was staring directly at him with feline eyes. Tsuna felt as if something was direly wrong as the woman continued to stare him down with her predatory gaze, as if she was waiting for the opportune moment to pounce and rip his throat out. Out of nowhere, for absolutely no identifiable reason, a name burned itself into Tsuna's mind.

_Savanna._

He quickly averted his eyes and popped open his can of soda, taking a small sip. From the corner of his eyes, he could tell that the woman was _still_ watching him. If she was here, did that mean... Hibari's father was here also? At that thought, Tsuna quickly looked around him just in case. After a few seconds, he was positive that the father was not in the immediate vicinity, but that thought kept him on edge. What if he showed up right now, and attempted to kill Hibari? Or him, for that matter? Was that why Hibari had forced him to play along and keep up the charade?

"Here's the cake, herbivore. Come with me."

Tsuna nearly jumped out of his skin, but took the box from Hibari's hands and set it down on the table.

"Hibari-san, why are you so alert? What's going on here? Why's Savanna looking at me like that!?"

Hibari narrowed his eyes. "How do you know that name?" Tsuna blanched.

"I---"

At that moment, the glass window of the cafe shattered into a billion pieces and screams erupted all around them. Tsuna found himself being shoved to the floor by Hibari, whom leaned over him and was shielding him from the majority of the shards. He looked up, and for the first time ever, witnessed Hibari cursing profusely. Gunshots kept ringing through the air, and a second later, the reliable tonfa were in the older boy's hands.

"When I say go, grab the box and run for the alley." Tsuna nodded. "... GO!!"

Tsuna didn't need to be told twice, and sprung up from his spot with Hibari. The prefect dashed straight at the gunmen and from all the pained yelps Tsuna could hear, it seemed as if Hibari was absolutely _not_ in the mood to fuck around. Tsuna glanced back as he ran and when he turned his attention back to the alley in front of him, he found a revolver pointed to his head. The foreign woman smirked.

"So it seems my suspicions were correct. He is still alive."

"What... do you mean?"

"Hibari. Hibari Kyouya. The boy I've been trying to eliminate for _years_." Tsuna paled and shook his head furiously.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Oh, I'm sure you're lying about that. After all, if you don't know who I'm talking about, then there should be no reason for you to turn such a sickly color. And there should be no reason for him to give me that look. It reminds me of my own."

Tsuna turned around at her last words. To his shock, Hibari was already done with the gunmen and was currently trying to find a way to defeat Savanna without any harm coming to Tsuna. He can't remember a time when Hibari was so pissed, except for the Kokuyo incident.

"Drop your tonfa, boy, or I'll pop one into his skull."

Hibari obediently set the tonfa on the ground before standing up, holding his hands up. He kept his eyes locked onto Tsuna's frightened ones, and Tsuna for the hundredth time that evening, wonders why Hibari did what he did. Two bulky men appeared behind Hibari with their own pistols and Hibari shifts every so slightly.

"Finally, after years of tracking you down, I get to kill you off here and now. What a delightful night this has been."

And just when Savanna raised her revolver to shoot Hibari, a loud explosion went off in the alley between then. She flinched and Tsuna jumped, and they were all momentarily distracted by it.

The distraction was_exactly_ what Hibari needed. He wrapped his arms around the men's, snapping their wrists and making them drop the pistols in their hands. He punched the one behind him to the left in the gut before kicking his feet out from under him and slamming his heel into the man's chest. He swiftly punched the man to his right in all the vital points before grabbing his arm and effortlessly _throwing_ him at Savanna. Tsuna's eyes widened as he jumped away, and Savanna felt the full force of the throw as the man hit her straight on. Tsuna let out an "EEP" as more yakuza members showed up, but Hibari was knocking them down one by one with his own fists, tonfa temporarily forgotten.

And since they were a bit too far from the tonfa anyway for Hibari to grab them, he improvised. By grabbing Tsuna.

Tsuna dropped the box onto the alley floor (thank god it missed the icky looking puddle) and was promptly spun around as if he was some kind of club. Hibari gripped his chest firmly as he pivoted on his heels, forcing Tsuna's legs to slam into their chests. After taking down the first three, he used Tsuna as a stool (or something of the sort) and flipped over him, effectively hitting a man in the face with his heel. Savanna was beginning to recover from being hit and reached for her revolver.

Tsuna didn't know what possessed him to do it, all he knew was that he _didn't want to get hurt_, or see Hibari get shot, and therefore kicked the gun down the alley. Savanna glared at him before pulling out a dagger, getting up and lunging for Tsuna. She would've successfully ripped his heart out, also, if Hibari didn't smash her into the wall with his re-acquired tonfa. She let out a gasp and Hibari gave Tsuna a meaningful glare.

"RUN!!!"

Tsuna snatched the box containing the cake and ran down the alley past the revolver that he'd previously kicked away from Savanna. Hibari followed shortly after, and when they managed to cover some adequate ground, the sound of gunshots rang out from behind them. Hibari turned the corner and Tsuna followed, and yanked open the door of a black car parked there and pulled Tsuna in. The latter was surprised to see Kusakabe there in the driver's seat.

"Floor it. Now. To Sawada's house."

And Kusakabe definitely didn't need to be told twice.


	7. Arcane Past

**Disclaimer:** Dooon't. Owwwwn. It.

**Author's Notes:** I'll try to update this as much as possible, but as my imagination is a stubborn brat and high school is looming over me, I might not be able to keep updating this every other day. Unless my muses decide they're going to have another field day (which was the main reason why I spat out so many chapters in a few days). I'll try as hard as I can to make up for it by making the chapters longer than they have been. And I'm thinking of creating a **C2 community for Hibari**, with and without pairings. Should I go through with that?

**Chapter Summary:** Tsuna has to think of a plausible lie to tell Hibari so that he can at least escape the consequences for the time being!

---------------------------------------------

A blink of an eye later, and Tsuna finds himself hurtling down the street in the sports car with Hibari by his side and Kusakabe at the wheel. The latter, by the way, is driving like a MADMAN down the streets toward Tsuna's neighborhood (Tsuna tries to think of how Kusakabe would know where he lives, but it's fleeting and Tsuna doesn't think much more on it). Which, he supposes, is entirely acceptable because he prefers to have the whole world know where he lives than have a bullet lodged into his skull.

But as Kusakabe didn't give him much time to breath, he holds onto Hibari for dear life while trying to reach the seatbelts and NOT crush the cake at the same time. Hibari is staring intensely at the road behind them to see if they were being pursued and despite not showing it, is incredibly uneasy because of the fact that Tsuna is latched around his waist like he's a lifeline while they're being jostled around in the car. Hibari makes a mental note to threaten Tsuna that should he slow him down in the future, he will indeed bite him to death to save some time. Hibari quickly glances to the lane to their right and to his distaste, there are two cars swerving in and out of the lane they were in, clearly chasing after them. Determined to shake them off, he pushes Tsuna off of him and clambers onto the front passenger seat.

"I'll take the wheel."

Kusakabe nods, his lips taut as he released the wheel, keeping his left foot on the gas pedal. Once Hibari has his foot near the pedal, he and Hibari switches places. Hibari takes firm hold of the wheel while buckling himself in, just like Kusakabe. The latter glances over his shoulder at Tsuna, the weak herbivore that he'd seen around a lot more lately.

"You better buckle yourself in, Sawada-san, if you value your life."

"Okay, I wi--IIILLLLAAAAAHHHH!!" His answer quickly turns into a terrified scream and he feels as if his life was flashing before him.

Because _holy shit_, Hibari gives a whole new definition to _road rage_. Tsuna yelps in shock as he was thrown against the window he sat by from the force and speed Hibari put behind the dangerous right turn he just completed. Many honks were heard and several individuals decided to express their shock and panic in extremely rude ways. Tsuna didn't blame them one bit and manages to fasten his seatbelt. Now came the holding on to the seat for dear fucking life.

Hibari swerves dangerously from lane-to-lane, and the men pursuing them were attempting to keep up and they appeared to be black blurs to Tsuna as he was obviously not given the time or chance to take a good look. The head prefect scowls and spun the wheel, lurching to the right and plowing straight through a cramped alley. Debris and garbage fly onto the windshield, but that didn't slow them down. Not at all. What totally slows them down is the dead end. Hibari hisses in frustration and utters a threat that would make Mukuro crawl and hide in a ditch and glances up at the rear view mirror.

Two cars come to a screeching halt at the alley's opening, and the men in the car step out, convinced that they have captured their targets.

But Hibari wasn't chosen as the Cloud Guardian for absolutely no reason, you know.

His eyes glitter maliciously as he put the gears in reverse, and Kusakabe is utterly aware of his intentions and voices his concern.

"Hibari-san, you're not going to make it--"

"Shut up and get down."

Tsuna opens one eye, still curled in a fetal position, confused as he had his eyes shut for the past five minutes (only a minute and a half has passed, but you lose track of time when you panic). Upon seeing Hibari's trademark leer, he shut his eyes again and squeaked. Hibari twists in his seat to get a better view, one hand on the wheel and the other hand on the back of Kusakabe's seat. He smashes his heel onto the gas pedal, and the three of them fly backward, heading straight for the cars blocking the entrance.

The impact slams Tsuna's head into Kusakabe's seat, hard enough to leave a bruise and disorient him for several long moments. Kusakabe has braced himself against the headboard, but he feels the force of the collision. Remarkably, the only one totally unfazed was Hibari. He quickly shifts gears and doesn't hesitate to ram one of the members into a wall, splitting the man in half and smearing his insides on the brick walls. He spins the wheel and takes off, speeding down the lanes. Tsuna rubs his poor, abused forehead and after several more turns, he is _absolutely_ glad that Hibari's convinced that they have left the pursuers in the dust.

They have slowed down, although their speed is not slow by normal standards, but it was a significant decrease from forty-five seconds ago, and Tsuna is able to control his breathing now. At this moment, he prefers to be forced through Reborn's ridiculously harsh way of tutoring him instead of reliving this entire day. He already knows that wishing on it is a lost cause because he will become the tenth boss of the Vongola famiglia in the future.

After a period of awkward but acceptable silence, they reach Tsuna's house. When the car comes to a stop, the boy manages to look up and is instantly scolded for taking such a long time.

"Get out of the car, we've reached your house."

"O-Okay." Tsuna does as he is told and scrambles out haphazardly, snatching his cake as he falls out. When he gets up to thank Hibari, he notices that the boy has several deep cuts in his cheek from where the bullets grazed them. His shoulder is also bleeding, staining his white button-up shirt. "Hi-Hibari-san! Are you alright?"

"Just shut the door, herbivore, and get inside the house!" Hibari snaps at him, and Tsuna shuts the door, worry painted all over his face as he scurries up to the doorstep of his own house.

When he turns around to wave goodbye, they're already gone. It's as if they were never there.

---------------------------------------

"IT WAS ABOUT TIME YOU GOT HOME!!"

Tsuna yelped as Lambo decided to jump and latch onto his face. Reborn and I-pin took the cake from his hands and rushed to the kitchen and Tsuna was left to pry Lambo off.

"STUPID TSUNA, TAKING SUCH A LONG TIME!"

"Hey, I don't need to hear it from you." Tsuna said, wearily, as he set Lambo down on the floor. Lambo pouted before rushing off with the others, eager to get a piece of the cake.

Even though the first and last thing he was able to get down today was a sip of soda, his appetite had vanished into thin air. After all, he had never been so close to dying before. Not even in his match with Xanxus where they fought mercilessly and he was pummeled into the ground. No, this was much different. He wasn't going to get shot by Dying Will bullets, but real ones. And there _is_ no coming back after that, regrets or not. That's one of the main reasons why Tsuna didn't want anything to do with the mafia--that, and he didn't want to be some kind of crime lord, even though the history of Vongola was considered a legacy.

He unzipped his jacket and slid it off, tossing it to some uninhabited corner of his room and plopped onto his bed with a frustrated sigh. Not only did the bullets come too close for comfort, he _still_ had to come with a plausible lie to tell Hibari because of his stupid slip-up when it came to Savanna's name. Hibari already had suspicions about how the journal might be in his possession (which it _was_), and he didn't need to fuel them any more because he was on Hibari's hit list as it was.

Still, there was still so many holes to fill in Hibari's childhood. What was his uncle like? Where did he learn to fight? How was it that Namimori Jr. High made such an impact on his life? From whom did he get his collapsible steel tonfa? What ever happened to his dad and Savanna? Why did so many delinquents look up to him, and why was the hospital ever so grateful to have him there?

Why?

Tsuna reached back, feeling around the edge of the pillow. The answers, most of them at least, were literally right beneath him. He slid his hand under the pillow, right where the diary was.

Or at least, should be.

Tsuna's eyes widened and he flipped over, trying to tell himself that he was hallucinating and that it was there, just that he'd missed it. After flinging the pillow off the bed and discovering that there was absolutely nothing but lint under it, he began panicking. He recalled putting it right there last night, and so there was no way he could misplace it. Unless...

Someone else was in his room.

_Crap_.

He was about to jump up from his bed, run around tearing the house apart until he found it. But that'd be the equivalent of standing atop the roof of his house butt-naked and screaming that he had a massive crush on Kyoko to the whole damn world. Which wouldn't be bad, he supposed, because he pretty much already did that in front of the entire school population, with the exception of having his boxers on. If he ran downstairs screaming, everyone would instantly know about the diary.

Or they'd assume it was his.

Shit.

Apart of him said, _at least it isn't your problem now_, but he pushed that thought out of his mind. He found it, he kept it, he held full responsibility over it whether he liked it or not. And now that it was in someone else's hands, he'd be screwed because if the journal found its way back to Hibari, the prefect would be convinced that Tsuna was passing it around as a form of blackmail. Shit! So, coming to a decision, Tsuna slid off the edge of his bed and walked over to the door, swallowing nervously. He reached for the doorknob...

And was instantly hit in the face as someone slammed it open.

"_OWWWW!!!_" He screamed, cradling his forehead. As if he wasn't already injured!

"So there you are, Tsuna." He looked down at Reborn, silently cursing himself for not expecting him to be the first one to show up.

"No time, Reborn, I have to go look for something! I misplaced a book--"

"You mean this?" The bottom of his stomach disappeared as Tsuna stared at the dirty, brown, stained cover of the journal.

"Why did you take it!? Give it back right now!!"

"Why should I? It's not like it was yours in the first place. I should be giving this to Hibari, if anything."

"NO! Not yet!"

"Tsuna, you have no right to meddle in his business. If a member of your family does not want to divulge the secrets to his past and persona, then you are going against their wishes. It's only right if you return it to him immediately."

Tsuna gulped, feeling the beginnings of guilt starting to creep into his subconcious again. He really had no right to read it if Hibari wished for him not to do so. After thinking it over, he sighed, admitting defeat.

"Fine... I'll return it tomorrow."

"Perhaps a later day, though... his journal contains the lead on the fugitive that I've been looking for."

"...What?"

"Savanna." Reborn clarified and Tsuna felt as if he'd really gotten stuck in matters too chaotic for him to handle. "She's wanted in a grand total of twenty different countries, _especially_ Italy."

--------------------------------------

The memories from Reborn's confession began to weigh down Tsuna's mind and it was like finding a clue that would lead you to who was behind the crime, except it only lead him back to the starting point with a different path to follow. At least he had something to tell Hibari about... even if there was a possibility that the boy already knew, and Tsuna would just be wasting his breath. He sighed, sullen and gloomy. He wouldn't be stuck in all this crap if he'd just handed the diary back to its rightful owner the minute he spotted it.

But then he remembered that he tried that, and Hibari had already left the campus for some unknown reason.

"Hey! Tenth, are you alright?" Tsuna blinked and looked over Gokudera, who looked entirely concerned at the fact that Tsuna kept spacing out.

"Yeah, I am! Nothing to worry about here!" Tsuna forced himself to laugh as he flashed Gokudera a faux smile; he seemed to accept it, although he was still a bit worried.

"Alright, if the Tenth says so... you should get some rest if you feel weird!" Gokudera reprimanded, and Tsuna nodded. Of course, although he was mentally exhausted, not physically.

"Come on, Gokudera-kun! We'll be late for class!" Yamamoto chirped as he slapped a hand on Gokudera's shoulder. The latter snarled in annoyance. "And don't strain yourself, Tsuna-kun! Alright!?"

"GET YOUR HAND OFF ME, YOU BASEBALL-OBSESSED BASTARD!!" Gokudera screamed at Yamamoto, whom winced and recoiled a bit. Tsuna laughed at the two, glad that Gokudera hadn't whipped out his faithful sticks of dynamite. Yet.

"I'll see you two at lunch! Gokudera-kun! Yamamoto-kun!"

The three of them waved and headed to their respective classes.

Tsuna grumbled slightly, not looking forward to it at all as he was _still_ failing the class. He got minutely better, yes, but it wasn't something to brag about. He prayed that something would happen and he could skip class, and give him some more time to read the diary. He absently reached for his book bag, right when the door slammed open, making everyone in the vicinity jump. The teacher stuttered and adjusted his glasses, gazing upon the intimidating form of Kusakabe Tetsuya.

"Uh--What seems to be the problem, K-Kusakabe-kun?"

"The Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee requests the presence of Sawada Tsunayoshi in the reception room immediately. He says it is an urgent matter and should Sawada-san be late, he'll be very disappointed."

Dead silence fell on the class, and everyone turned to look at Tsuna, whom felt extremely paranoid under their penetrating stares. Well, there goes his hopes of getting a bit of time to skim through the rest of the journal. He picked up his book bag and stood up, heading over to Kusakabe. The man shut the door and escorted Tsuna to the reception room in silence, and he was anxious as he thought about what would happen. Perhaps the prefect will bite him to death this time around?

"He's here, Hibari-san."

"Good. Leave us."

Hibari was sitting in a chair behind the red oak desk at the far side of the room, reading papers thoroughly. The ever-so familiar Hibird was perched on his shoulder, softly singing the school anthem. Upon spotting Tsuna in the room, it chirped and took flight, coming to rest on Tsuna's head. Hibari still hadn't glanced up from his papers but he curled his index finger, motioning for Tsuna to come closer. Tsuna did so, albeit hesitantly. Once he was close enough to see just what kind of papers Hibari was reading, he shuffled the papers and then rearranged them before sliding them into a manila folder and shutting it. That was when he glanced up at Tsuna.

"How is it that you know of Savanna?"

"Well, uh..." Tsuna stuttered as Hibari kept gazing at him intently. "Re-Reborn mentioned her name in one of his conversations..."

"If that's so, then what's her real name?"

Tsuna paled visibly and he swallowed.

"Um... it's...eh... uuhhhh..."

Hibari grabbed him by his necktie and slammed him on the table before yanking him closer so that their noses were an inch apart.

"You're a failure when it comes to lying, Sawada Tsunayoshi. Give me the journal, or I'll bite you to death, right here, right now."

Tsuna reached into his book bag frantically, but could not find it. He blanched.

"I-I don't have it!"

Hibari apparently didn't take no for answer and slammed him onto the table, his nails burrowing painfully into Tsuna's back through the thin shirt that he wore. From the corner of his eye through his brown strands of hair, Tsuna could see the dangerous glint of steel and squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the pain to come. All he heard was the sound of metal against metal, and felt nothing but air. When he looked up, he found (to his sheer amazement) Reborn standing in front of him on the table, blocking Hibari with some nunchucks.

"Please refrain from hurting Tsuna, as he is telling the truth."

"Oh, is that right, baby?" Hibari whispered, the bloodlust in his eyes clearly not dissipating, although he held back as Reborn ordered.

"Yes. How long have you been monitoring Savanna's activities?"

"Two years." Hibari's lips thinned into a firm line and he eased up. The nunchuck that Reborn was holding morphed back into Leon, whom sat in his place on Reborn's fedora. "Her records end in 1982."

"Ah, I see." Reborn tapped his chin as he contemplated this. "How about this, Hibari... I'll tell you what I know so far about her, and in return, Tsuna gets to keep your journal and you'll help us capture her."

"WHAAAT?!!?!" Tsuna yelped, earning a boot-to-the-face from Reborn.

"Sounds like a deal, baby."

"Alright. Savanna's real name is Oria Valentino. She is the most-wanted criminal in twenty countries that I know of, and her birthplace was Venice, Italy. Specific date unknown. The Vongola famiglia has spent years trying to track her down and came upon a dead end when it seemed as if she disappeared off the face of the Earth. Therefore, this new lead is quite epochal. She is wanted for many crimes, including the murder of several prestigious family members, along with the dealership of illegal, commercial drugs. It appears that shortly after her birth, she was handed over to the Estraneo family."

Tsuna sat up upon hearing the name, his eyes widening in shock.

"From then on, the records are very vague. All we know is that she escaped their clutches shortly after they started experimenting on Chikusa, Ken, and Mukuro... and in her possession is a forbidden bullet. The first that the Estraneo family has successfully created."

"What bullet...?" Tsuna whispered shakily as Reborn frowned.

"The Rebirth Bullet. Not much is known about it other than..."

Reborn glanced up at Hibari.

"Should a person die and be shot with it within fifteen minutes after their death, they will be brought back to life."

---------------------------------------

IT'S **THANKSGIVING VACATION**!!! A WEEK OFF TO DEVOTE TO ART AND WRITING, YESSSS!!!

Thanks to all the people that have read, reviewed, favorited, or added this story to their story alerts! I'm quite frankly, still shocked that all of you have kept reading! XD;;;

And to answer your questions, **badexposition**, I try to update daily but I'm definitely seeing problems with that in the future. Nope, I haven't completed this story (and honestly, I'm surprised I even made it this far). Yes, I'm mad at myself for making Hibari's childhood a bit cliche by fanfiction standards, so I'm trying to deviate from the rest as much as possible. And I wish my writing wasn't so to the point... I just can't find enough words when I'm writing something. XP Bad way to explain it...

Oh, and thanks for your suggestion, **ChibiVi3tKitsun3**. I have brought back Hibird (I'll have to punch myself for leaving him/her out for so long!) and eheheheh! You'll see what happens to Masahiro soon enough.


	8. New Faces

**Disclaimer:** [Shinji is nowhere to be found. Instead, there is a note lying on a nearby table stating, _I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!!!!_

**Author's Notes:** See end of chapter. Trying not to write myself into a corner, in any case.

**Chapter Summary:** After hearing the disturbing explanation from Reborn, Tsuna throws his homework out the window to read more of the journal.

-----------------------------------------

"I can't believe you, Reborn! Why didn't you tell me about Savanna earlier!?"

School let out an hour ago, and Reborn and Tsuna were currently in Tsuna's room. After a short exchange of words with Hibari, the prefect dismissed the two of them and left the campus. Tsuna hadn't seen him since then. So, the rest of the school day went by without a problem and now Tsuna was staring dismally at his homework sheet from math class. As usual, he couldn't understand how to solve a single problem. Except for maybe the one having to do with the absolute value of x minus five equals negative two. Then again, he's pretty sure he's going to get it wrong anyway.

"Well, you can't blame me, I didn't know."

Tsuna sighed in exasperation and tapped his pencil on his cheek. He was right about one thing-- the minute Reborn was onto the journal, the mafia got dragged into it. Except there was no helping it this time around because Hibari's childhood and present life is rooted firmly in the mafia world. He wished it wasn't so, wished that Hibari didn't have such a traumatic past, wished--

"OW!!"

"Pay attention to your work, Tsuna. A mafioso must be intelligent also." Reborn hit him on the head again with a book he found discarded on the floor. Tsuna frowned.

"I'm trying! I just don't remember any of this... and I want to read the journal..."

Reborn sighed and tossed it over to Tsuna, whom fumbled with it before managing to grip it correctly.

"You might as well read the rest of it. Perhaps then you will learn not to get deeply involved in other people's pasts."

"Huh? Why is that, Reborn?"

"Puu..."

"DAMN IT, WHY'D YOU HAVE TO FALL ASLEEP!!?!??!"

Tsuna slammed his head onto the table, thoroughly annoyed, all concentration gone completely. He placed the journal softly onto the table, and flipped open to the entry following the one concerning Amaya's death.

--------------------------------------------

_November 10th, 1993_

_Today was the funeral for my sister. Her ex-husband was not present, but all of the relatives from her side were. Some from his side were there also. We still haven't identified her killers, and I've been trying to get information from the Namimori underground. The prefects have found absolutely no leads whatsoever. Took a day off from my duties at Namimori-- tomorrow, I'll have to take Kyouya with me to work. Surely the female prefects wouldn't mind looking after him a bit while they're on the job._

_Kyouya hasn't slept in a while. Even when he's exhausted, he wakes up at the sound of a creaking door. He hasn't cried since the night that Amaya died. Ha. It's sad to think that he's all I have left of my sister besides photographs. Especially when he's just like his mother. His eyes aren't their normal sky blue anymore. They look like the color of rain at night now. Perhaps maybe he'll grow up just like his mom too, the chairman of the disciplinary committee of her time. I wonder how she managed to convince the principal to create one..._

--

_November 15th, 1993_

_Dear god, the girls adore Kyouya. He threw a fit though when they crowded around him and wouldn't stop screaming. He still won't let go of that stuffed animal. My parents insist on coddling him, but he doesn't like that either. Oh boy. I think I might have to take him with me once I move out of this apartment. I don't think he'll be very pleased with living here until he's able to move out himself._

_He quieted down when I explained to him that his mom had to deal with this also. I find it quite astounding how Amaya has never mentioned anything of Namimori Jr. High, especially when it was _her_ that established the whole idea of having a disciplinary committee to take care of the delinquents at the school. She didn't tell me much of it either. I guess it happened shortly after she was harassed by one of her fellow classmates. I was kind of amazed at the fact that about a day later, said classmate ended up in the hospital (I don't doubt the fact that it was_ ALL_ Amaya's doing) and Amaya brought up the idea with the District Board._

_One week later, the disciplinary committee was established, and Amaya herself was the Chairman. Chairwoman. _

_You get the idea._

---

"Faster!" A man in his late thirties yelled as he parried another violent slash of spiked tonfa with his own, leaping backward and to the side to avoid getting hit in the face. His silk black hair fluttered in the wind and he came to land several yards away, his steel grey eyes focusing on ones similar to his, though they were much colder, with specks of ice blue here or there. "Kyouya, I said _faster_. I didn't mean put all your strength into it."

"What does it matter?" Hibari muttered in annoyance as he stood up, tightening his grip on the handles of his tonfa before rushing forward to land a hit on his uncle, Hibari Tatsuya.

Tatsuya huffed in exasperation before easily side-stepping him with speed and agility most have only seen from the chairman of the disciplinary committee himself. Hibari grinded his teeth, baring them in such a way that reminded Tatsuya of a wolf when angered. His nephew whirled around and if Tatsuya hadn't suspect it, would've handicapped his arm with ease. Tatsuya flipped backwards until he was a safe distance away and glanced down at his right arm. The shirt was torn and ripped right underneath his elbow, and a shallow scratch underneath was staining the shirt with blood.

"What does it matter?" Tatsuya narrowed his eyes as he stood up. "Why do you think I keep encouraging you to become a better fighter? It's so things like _that_ time don't happen again."

Hibari grimaced, his scowl intensifying upon the mention of that incident, several years after his mother's death. The people that killed his mother went after him, and if it wasn't for Tatsuya, he'd probably be dead and rotting in landfill at the moment. As utterly exhausting as it is, he understood his uncle's passion and desire for _strength_. A passion that was absorbed by him, that fueled his will to be the strongest fighter around so he wouldn't allow himself to be captured, used, beaten, and nearly murdered again.

However, mention of that incident were taboo in the Hibari household. The only reason Tatsuya would've brought it up was to insure that Hibari himself didn't lose interest in perfecting his fighting style.

"A little mistake is enough to bring you down! You know that!" Tatsuya snapped causticly before rushing forth. Hibari found himself slammed against the wall, barely able to prevent from being slashed open. However, despite being still slower than his own uncle, he met the elder's gaze with a defiant one of his own. Both looked over to the garden door that lead into the kitchen where a petite woman was standing with her hands on her hips.

"_What_ have I told you two about sparring!? Get in here for dinner or I swear I will lock the both of you out to starve!!!" She yelled furiously and Tatsuya's expression softened into a cheerful one, and he let out a laugh.

"But dear! Surely you're not mean enough to do that!" He motioned for Hibari to follow him inside, though the boy remained stationary and just stared after his aunt and uncle as they disappeared into the house.

The winter wind was chilling him to the bones, but he didn't show any indication that he was indeed cold other than a light biting of his own lips. He collapsed the tonfa and put them back in their place in the holster on the back of his belt, hidden by the jacket he always wore. Thankfully, his uncle didn't come back outside to try and usher him into the warmth of his own home-- Hibari prefered the cold, quite honestly, even if it made it seem like there was _fire_ rushing through his body instead of blood. His fingertips felt like they were burning from the differing temperatures, and he crossed his arms, leaning against the wall of the house.

Unfortunately for him, he was getting no closer to getting rid of that elusive woman, Oria, than he was to admitting that he was, indeed, _not_ a completely heartless bastard. Besides, he doubted that clarifying his own motives would do much for the rest of the population that hated his guts and wished he would burn to the ground (like that bastard herbivore that hung around Tsuna and smoked as if the cigarettes were the only thing that provided clean oxygen on this planet).

As he thought about it, he couldn't go for a direct confrontation with that woman, although he direly wished to do so. And even though he could kill her on the spot, he still needed some questions to be answered. Such as "Why the hell did you have to kill my mom of all the goddamn people on this planet?"

A sharp sound of steel on concrete distracted him and he whipped out one of his tonfa, glaring at the form perched on the stone wall separating the garden from the sidewalk. He didn't feel any bloodthirsty intent from the man, but that didn't mean he had any reason to be hopping on garden walls. Especially not when dressed in black head-to-toe with steel-toed combat boots and with several machine guns and assault rifles slung over his shoulder.

"Who are you?" Hibari demanded, taking note of the man's every action. He simply pulled down his sunglasses, peering over the edge of them.

"I take it that you're Hibari Kyouya, right? An associate of mine sent me. Perhaps you know him... he goes by the name of 'Reborn'."

Hibari's eyes narrowed.

--------------------

Well now, those two entries answered _some_ of his questions.

He had his suspicions on the ambitions of Hibari's family members--and now it was quite clear where his passion for Namimori came from. His mom _and_ uncle were presidents of the Disciplinary Committee, and along with that, his _mom_ was the one that _created it_. That in itself was a feat rarely seen these days-- the only females he knew of that had that kind of fighting spirit were Haru and Chrome. However, if he was in Hibari's shoes, he doubted that he'd want to become the next president. All he would really want is an answer.

Why?

Tsuna also thought that it was a bloody miracle that Tatsuya ended up taking care of Hibari, even though at the time of Amaya's death, he was not a day older than nineteen.

The boy tapped his pencil on the sheet of paper in front of him, still not able to concentrate on the math problems. How was he supposed to become the boss of a prestigious mafia family if he can't solve simple junior high school level problems!?

"Are you _trying_, Tsuna?"

"I _am_," he whined, grabbing fistfuls of his brunette hair and shaking his head furiously. "It's just not coming to me!!"

Reborn slapped him. Tsuna fell to the side, rubbing his reddened, burning cheek.

"OI! You didn't need to do that!"

"Of course I did. You have no motivation whatsoever, Tsuna. You need to get your priorities straight or you'll never become a suitable boss!"

Well, HELLO, it's not like he asked to in the first place! Tsuna groaned and slumped to the floor, gazing at the bland ceiling above him. Reborn jumped onto his stomach and blocked his view with a grin that had Tsuna wondering what the Arcobaleno had up his sleeve.

"But since we have to deal with Oria first, I've called in someone from the Varia to help since Basil and Dino are busy back in Italy."

Those words had Tsuna's heart beating a hole through his chest. He shot up at lightning speed, a panicked expression taking over his face as he screamed at Reborn.

"You WHAT!?"

"You heard me."

"YOU CALLED IN A MEMBER OF THE VARIA TO HELP!?!?! THEY'RE STILL ANGRY FROM THE VONGOLA RING BATTLE!!!"

"It's not any of the people that you saw back at the battle. The person I called is from the lower ranks."

"THAT MAKES NO DIFFERENCE!" Tsuna shrieked, ready to rip hair off his own scalp. "Lancia wiped the floor with their butts! They're not going to be happy!"

"Well, it's too late to change anything. Let me introduce you to your other tutor!"

At that point, Tsuna noticed that someone was standing in the doorway, watching the scene with an indifferent gaze. At first, he thought his eyes were playing a trick on him.

"_HIBARI!?!?!_"

------------------------------

Ha! Sorry for cutting it off there, but I'm tired. x.x To answer some questions... if by fluff, you mean kissing, eh--NO. This story is the first part of either two or three that I'm planning, and I still have to make it so that Hibari's on friendly terms with Tsuna first since I don't want the prefect to just slam Tsuna against the wall and do GOD knows what to him.

My email is on my homepage. Go search for it if you need it.

I'll try to have the next chapter by the first week of January.


	9. Trainer?

**Disclaimer:** All I own (or will own anyway) is a fedora. And a trench coat. And well, my clothes and this computer and keyboard I'm using. Katekyo Hitman Reborn? Of course I don't own it. I'd be lucky if I get any of the official merchandise besides the books. --

**Author's Note:** Tried to make it longer but now I can't even think. Fucking grades. Fucking school. Fucking everything.

**Chapter Summary:** The good news: Hibari's not the one training him. The bad news: two psychopathic lower echelon Varia members are, and they expect him to spar with Hibari as preparation!

* * *

At first, Tsuna thought his eyes were playing a trick on him.

"_HIBARI_!?"

But alas, they weren't. The slender form of the head prefect was standing in _his_ doorway, staring down at him with some imperious air, but obviously he stepped in at the wrong time. Because there was _no way_ that Reborn could've possibly meant him! Hibari wasn't a Varia member-- as far as Tsuna knew, he still thought of the Varia as a hill of monkeys with Xanxus as the king of all monkeys! The older boy shifted his gaze from Tsuna to Reborn, and immediately stepped aside, pointing to the man behind him.

"What do you think you're trying to pull here, baby? I refuse to fight someone that is weaker than I."

Tsuna's eyes flickered over to the strange man (perhaps _he_ was the one that Reborn was talking about) and took in all his features. He was tall, slender, had a build similar to Dino's but he couldn't tell for sure as the man was cloaked in a heavy jacket that looked much more comfortable than the Cavallone heir's. The man was very... effeminate, to say the least. However, it wasn't as blatant as Lussuria, because despite having hair that reached his buttocks with a soft face and gentle eyes, he held himself confidently. Something told Tsuna that despite the fact that this man might be laid back, he knew what he was doing and wouldn't make clumsy mistakes like Dino.

Well, except for accepting Reborn's request, that is.

"I sent him to train you in preparation for your upcoming fight with Oria. Just to get in shape."

"Then you should've called that blond-haired moron," Hibari scowled impressively. "I still have a score to settle with him."

"I'm starting to think this is a bad idea, Reborn-san," The man behind Reborn sighed half-heartedly and shifted the strap on his shoulder that held up an assortment of assault rifles and machine guns. "Hibari-kun here refuses to train with me because he is already well acquainted with guns--and I agree with him, personally."

"I have no use for firearms. They are tools made for herbivores." Hibari snapped. Reborn lowered his head, but was smiling mysteriously.

"Well then, I guess you'll have to be Tsuna's tutor then, Takumi. As for you, Hibari. There's another member from the Varia coming-- I guess they're a bit late."

"I refuse to be trained by _monkeys_ lead by the most idiotic _king of monkeys_ ever."

"Whoa, dude, that's a bit harsh--although I'd have to agree with you when it comes to Xanxus-san. No one ever has the guts to say anything to him though." Takumi sighed, but immediately brightened up and snatched Tsuna's hands, shaking them energetically. "Pleased to meet you, Sawada-san! I guess I'll be your tutor then!"

"E-Eh?" Tsuna was oh so very lost in this whole matter. Then again, you would be lost too if a bunch of suspicious characters (come on, assassins _are_ suspicious, no?) began congregating in your bedroom and you still have to explain this whole situation to your mother (then again, she seems to be a bit clueless--no offense). He sweatdropped nervously. "R-Reborn! I can't have assassins coming to tutor me! People would be twice as suspicious!"

"Well, you accepted a professional hitman as your tutor. What's the difference?"

The difference?

"You're a _baby_!!" And so, Tsuna began thrashing around, waving his arms with enough force to make them fly right off as he tried to get the point across. Surely Reborn _must_ know how that form of his immediately disarms females and males alike! Even he, Tsuna, future boss of the Vongola family fell for it the first time they met (and he earned a boot in the face for it, too--that hurt). "They're adults! And besides, Takumi's suspicious enough with all the guns hanging over his shoulder!"

"Dude. I swear to god, stop dissing me!" Takumi growled in irritation, veins popping on his forehead.

"Oh, don't worry! I decided to have them enroll in Namimori as to be less suspicious!"

_Less suspicious_? Try more! After all, how were they going to pass as junior high students? Takumi himself could not possibly pass for a junior high student--not when he literally towered over the rest of them and had some physical trait that gave away his true age. Apparently, Hibari seemed to be thinking the same thing because his scowl deepened, and he looked about ready to bite someone to death. With his teeth, not his tonfa.

"No. They will not be allowed on the premises whatsoever. If I so much as _smell_ them, they will be bitten to death." Hibari emphasized his threat by drawing one of his tonfa out, his ice cold eyes narrowed and angry.

Tsuna also supposed that the close proximity of other humans was beginning to affect Hibari negatively also--and it didn't help any bit that Lambo and Ipin decided to barge into the room with an explosion of noise. Lambo was, once again, chasing Ipin around pretending to be the oh-so-frightening broccoli monster. Unfortunately, it was working on Ipin. Fortunately, she stopped running as soon as she laid eyes on Hibari. Hibari looked down at her curiously, and Lambo crashed into her back. Tsuna blanched when Ipin started drooling, and tugged at his hair.

"Quick, throw her outside before she--"

Too late. The Pinzu Time Bomb activated. Funny how she chose to latch onto Hibari's leg, also.

"NOOOO!" Tsuna screamed, Takumi raised his eyebrows in sheer confusion as the sixteen year-old dove down to Hibari's leg and grabbed Ipin, trying to pull her off of the chairman of the Disciplinary Committee.

Hibari swiftly reached down and pulled her off with surprising strength and looked up at Tsuna. The brown-haired boy quickly snatched Ipin from his hands and threw her out the window, right when the countdown reached one. A deafening explosion--accompanied with the suffocating scent of garlic--shook the foundations of the house and Tsuna fell clumsily backwards into a solid form. That of Hibari's. As usual, Tsuna didn't notice the important facts until they were blazing at his face. His intuition, however, sent shivers down his spine as he obediently looked over to his shoulder to see who he crashed into.

Ice cold silver eyes, with a hint of blue. Frozen rain. Hibari. _Crap_.

Before Tsuna had time to scramble off him and mutter a thousand apologies, Hibari beat him to it by roughly shoving him off, right into Takumi. Tsuna crashed into the tall man with a grunt, wondering if Hibari was extremely pissed because it's not everyday strangers show up at your door demanding to train you. In Hibari's case, it never happened, because first, his uncle was there to train him. And second, he _didn't need it_. The head prefect threw an exasperated (exasperation!? Since WHEN!?) glare at the two before turning to Reborn.

"As I have said, I refused to be trained by _any_ of the monkeys. And if I so much as catch a whiff of them on my grounds, I will bite them to death. Slowly. Surely."

"Are you sure, Hibari? I trained her, before I trained Dino." Reborn asked, with an indecipherable smile.

"_Her_?" Takumi, Hibari, and Tsuna inquired.

"I will _not_ be trained by a woman."

Hibari's expression gave Tsuna the distinct feeling that the prefect was feeling like he was being mocked by a whole bunch of mocking birds, and he was quite fed up with it. In fact, he raised his tonfas ever so slightly to attempt to slam Reborn into the wall when Takumi sneezed.

Loudly.

It was one of those sneezes that you can hear, even in a classroom where everyone was shouting at the top of their lungs. And from seeing Takumi's face right after he sneezed, Tsuna assumed that it was not allergies. It was an omen. Unfortunately, his suspicions were confirmed.

"...Reborn... just who else did you ask to tutor these kids?"

"Zhang Rui Ling, of course!"

Takumi blanched so much that he put the white-washed walls of the bedroom to shame.

And right at that moment, the door creaked open.

* * *

"Now that we know he's alive, what should we do, Oria?" A man demanded from his place, farther across the room from where Oria sat, swirling a glass of wine.

"We should kill him, of course! The bastard's destroyed half of our forces by himself!"

"Yeah, we should kill him, right now!"

"You think it's that easy?" Her velvet voice cut right through the tension in the air, and the racuous chatter of the men died down, shrinking underneath her stare. Her eyes penetrated you in ways that made you feel like dirt, even though she didn't say anything. But of course, she did this time around. "If you were defeated by that boy when he was thirteen, do you think you can handle him now? Besides, he has the Vongola backing him."

At the word "Vongola" the noise exploded, this time with hateful yells.

"VONGOLA SCUMBAGS!"

"DIRTY MURDERERS, BASTARDS!"

"WE SHOULD KILL THEM!!"

The men were too busy arguing to notice the smirk that appeared on Oria's face.

"Yes, we should kill them. The cute little Juudaime...and his little guardians."

* * *

"Oh hell no. Not her. Nothernothernothernothernother--" Takumi was thrown forward by a tremendous blow to the back of his head and his jaw smacked painfully into the desk placed right into the middle of the room. Tsuna blinked in shock and turned to the door and his stomach dropped.

That person standing there was a she?

_She_ was wearing a leather jacket with studs on the shoulder, a black shirt with skulls on it, black cargo pants ripped and torn in several places, with three belts on. _Her_ boots were at least two-three inches thick, and matched Takumi's. _Her_ hair? Bright freakin' flaming red. A beacon in a crowd, far more ostentatious than even Lussuria's hairstyle. Yet, unlike Takumi, she had no surplus of firearms, and he could only see two holsters peeking out from beneath her jacket. In her hands was a rolled up newspaper. Why she was in possession of it was beyond him.

She turned her dark grey eyes upon Reborn and snarled.

"Damn IT, Reborn, I thought you SAID that BASTARD wouldn't be HERE. I TOLD YOU I WILL NOT TUTOR ANYONE IF HE'S HERE."

"I'm sorry, I couldn't call anyone else. Only he and you agreed to come. I didn't know you guys were on bad terms with each other."

Tsuna desperately wanted to scream _LIES_ because he was pretty sure Reborn knew everything but played it off as the innocent number one hitman baby. When he caught Hibari's eyes, it seemed as if the head prefect wanted to say the same thing. Apparently, Ling didn't think so either and rolled her eyeballs, giving Takumi a kick in the buttocks before turning to Tsuna and holding out a hand.

"Hello, Juudaime. I'm Zhang Rui Ling, and I'll be yours and your partner's trainer for the next week or so!"


	10. Crossing Territory Lines

**Disclaimer:** If you think I own KHR, you must be mad.

**Author's Note:** (watches tumbleweed roll on by) Well now. I'm incredibly sorry that I have not updated this story for… almost two years now. That officially makes me a slacking jerk. I finally came back to finish up this chapter (let me tell you, I had to rewrite it several times) since the fact that I've never been able to finish a story nags the crap out of me. So here is another chapter of Metamorphosis! Be warned: I have a huge issue with verb tenses.

* * *

Tsuna squirmed awkwardly in his seat at the table, his large brown eyes darting in between the two new faces that sat across from him. The Varia members' faces were stony, and they were pointedly not looking at each other. The tension in the room was so thick that it would take a chainsaw to cut through it. The tenth Vongola boss looked nervously to his side where the chairman of the Student Disciplinary Committee sat, his face as blank as a crisp new sheet of paper, but his eyes burned like frozen blue flames. Tsuna swallowed; Hibari definitely was not pleased. He could sense the man's blood lust and his urge to whip out the collapsible tonfa so he could beat the two strangers across from them into oblivion and back.

"Uh…" Tsuna croaked, and cleared his throat as the anxiety made itself tangible in his mouth. His voice was hoarse. "How… do we plan to arrange this?"

"Simple, as I've stated before." Reborn said as he quietly ate a tangerine from the bowl on the table, Leon curled up happily on his fedora. "These two will guide you in practical combat, as well as how to harness the power of your Dying Will flames. They also will watch over you in school to see how you adapt to your surroundings."

"How will that be possible?" Tsuna asked, his eyes quickly flitting over to the man and woman, their postures still as stiff as stone. "They look a bit too old to be in school." It was true; the bags and circles under their eyes looked almost as if they were born with them. Certain lines accented their faces, especially in the corners of their eyes.

"I'm sure they can find a way, and if Hibari-san doesn't object—"

"I will not help them sneak into Namimori." Hibari said, his voice coated in venom. Rui Ling sighed, the _huff_ emphasized with a bit of irritation.

"Look, you blasted skylark, aren't you overreacting?"

Tsuna quickly pushed himself to the side as soon as he felt Hibari move.

The black-haired man had pulled his tonfa out in a blink of an eye with the intent to silence her. She seemed to have sense it and parried him with her pistols, their wrists shaking slightly as both calmly tried to overpower the other. Both were standing up, the dislike in their eyes mutual. Reborn quickly batted the two away from each other with a sword, and Tsuna let out a relieved sigh when the two quickly sat down.

"Hibari-san, it would benefit you if you allowed them to attend the school. Surely your dislike of Oria is greater than your dislike for these two members you just met." Hibari's lips twitched as he scowled, and Tsuna knew that he agreed, but it would take the demon king himself to rip a verbal agreement out of his throat. "Well, it's settled. Life will continue as normal as it can with these two. We will gather here tomorrow for more directions."

"Fine." Hibari bit out coldly as he stood up and headed for the door, no doubt eager to escape the "crowd" in the room and the herbivores, as he so politely referred to them by. Rui Ling grunted as she also stood up, keeping her distance from Takumi.

"I'll see you in the morning, Tenth." She said, and Tsuna realized how tired she really was. He nodded as Takumi trudged after Rui Ling, the two headed for the door also. As he heard the door shut, he wondered.

"I wonder how they're going to pull it off." Reborn made a noncommittal noise and worked on another tangerine.

"They're resourceful, they'll manage something."

* * *

_December 14, 1993_

_When I came home from work today, Kyouya was gone. My mom was lying in a pool of her own blood. Her breaths are shaky and shallow, but she is definitely still alive. The ambulance arrives ten minutes after I call. The authorities questioned me, wasting my time. Obviously I wouldn't play a part in murdering my own family. However, I can't say the same for Kyouya's father. He is still out there, and I don't doubt that's where he is right now. With his father, or at least some underlings. All I can say is I'm unbelievably angry._

_Angry at him, angry at the world, angry at myself for believing in false security and being lulled into a fake sense of peace._

_

* * *

_

A loud scream of panic erupted from the Sawada household early the next morning.

Tsuna nearly killed himself running down the stairs and tripping over his own damned feet as he struggled to pull his socks on. He was out the door and running for his life down the street, the adrenaline in his system fighting off the daze he was still in when he realized he was running late. If he didn't at least get inside the doors of Namimori Jr. High before the bells rang, he would undoubtedly die a horrible death from being cut one thousand times and left outside to bleed to death in the cold.

Surprisingly, he made it into his class without the help of Reborn and the dying will bullet, or the pills. All his classmates stared curiously at him as he made his way to his desk, the exhaustion of his run catching up to him. It would take him at least half an hour to not feel like his lungs were shoved into lava. If only he had water…

"Looking a bit thirsty there, I see." He felt as if his heart had imploded as he turned to his right, where Takumi sat. The man gave him a lazy smile before handing over a bottle of water which was gloriously cold. Tsuna mouthed a "thanks" before he opened it and proceeded to down its contents greedily. It was bliss.

"How'd you guys managed to get in?"

"Well, we had to disguise ourselves first. Rui Ling went with Reborn to talk it over with Hibari." The man looked as if he lost three years off his life just by saying Rui Ling's name. "We were aiming for lying low, but that won't be too good if Hibari catches us."

Tsuna definitely agreed and was about to ask him another question when Gokudera and Yamamoto burst in through the doors, the prior letting out a loud yell of "_TENTH_" The silver-haired man rushed forward, throwing Takumi a suspicious look as he turned to Tsuna, beaming like a neglected puppy when seeing its master.

"Tenth! We were beginning to worry about where you were? Is this man bothering you?" Tsuna shook his head furiously. "Where were you these past few days?"

"A… lot of stuff happened. Reborn hired some new tutors to help me prepare for the next fight." Tsuna truthfully did not feel like explaining the whole situation to them in the classroom. While everyone else didn't care to pay attention to anything he said or did, he didn't feel like being accused of being a mafia member (even though he was _the boss_) or a delinquent. Now that he thought about it, he was already on the way there with the spectacular help of Gokudera Hayato.

"Next fight? Against who, Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked as he sat down at his table, pulling out a pencil and notebook for class.

"Uh, well, how about we talk about it over lunch? Class is starting anyway."

"Sure Tenth, that sounds good!"

Gokudera beamed at him and Tsuna smiled nervously as he turned to get his notebook out of his bag. Takumi regarded him with a blank gaze before turning back to face the front of the class. The tension in the air was not as horrible as the one from the previous night, but it was quite clear that Gokudera did not trust the newcomer and was making it obvious with the venomous glares he kept shooting over at Takumi behind Tsuna's back. Tsuna was about to tell him to knock it off when the doors slid open with a force that could only promise death and destruction.

Kusakabe stood at the classroom's entrance, looking thoroughly stressed. As Tsuna was aware that everything bad usually happened to him, he could only sink lower in his seat and pray that a portal to Hell would open up and devour him before the dreaded vice president of the Disciplinary Committee calls his name.

However, as this is Sawada Tsunayoshi we're talking about, there was no such luck.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi! Hibari-san wants to have a word with you!" _Fuck my life_, Tsuna thought as he rose slowly with his supplies and walked up the row, heading for the door and ignoring all the accusations flying his way. Kusakabe looked at him tiredly and also motioned to someone else in the room. "He says to also bring someone by the name of Takumi to the office also."

"There's two in here, which one?"

"Hibari-san says to bring the new one."

"What does the damned demon want with Tenth?" came Gokudera's enraged voice from somewhere behind Tsuna to the left, and he could hear the soft thump of footfalls behind him. Takumi's face was kept professionally blank, though there was a small tick in the muscles by his lips.

"Ask Sawada-kun about it later." Was Kusakabe's reply as he left, leading the two boys behind him. Takumi slid the door shut and followed, his feet barely making any sound on the linoleum flooring while Tsuna's was a rushed _squeak thump squeak_, mirroring his slight anxiety. If Hibari was calling for Takumi, there was no doubt that Rui Ling would be waiting for them in the room. There was a chance that Reborn would also be there, considering how he was _always_ nearby when something goes horribly wrong.

Kusakabe rapped his knuckles against the door of the committee's meeting room. From inside, several silhouettes moved and a deep tenor voice said "come in," with an irritated snap. The vice president pulled the doors open and stood aside for Tsuna and Takumi to enter. Takumi promptly sneezed.

Tsuna's large brown eyes came to rest on the forms of Rui Ling, Reborn, and Hibari, seated on the couches in front of them. The baby was seated on the couch to the left closest to them, calmly drinking tea with appreciative sighs. The cloud guardian looked ready to murder as he fixed his eyes on Tsuna and Takumi. On his jaw was an aggravated looking red mark, as if someone has just decked him in the face. The scars from the fight at the cafe were still healing, little red lines on his cheek.

Rui Ling had a look on her face to match Hibari's murderous one; she was currently cradling her other cheek, and from where Tsuna stood, he could see crimson dotting her white uniform shirt and the towel she held to her face. Trust Reborn to act like there was nothing wrong with this situation.

"Ah, Tsuna-kun! There you are!" came Reborn's cheerful, polite voice as he set down his cup of tea. Takumi let out a depressed sigh behind Tsuna and carefully walked around him, taking a seat next to Reborn. That left the arm rests or the open spot beside Hibari. Tsuna didn't know whether or not he should chance getting beaten to death by tonfa if he dared sit down next to the irate chairman.

"What's the problem, Reborn?" Even to his own ears, Tsuna's voice was shaky, ridden with undertones of _please don't kill me, I'm just fifteen_ and _I don't wanna die before I settle down with a family to call my own!_ The intensity of Hibari's glare increased and the unfortunate boy felt his blood run cold. Yup, there was no chance in hell that he would sit down next to the other male now.

"Well, as you can see Tsuna, these two came to blows over a discussion of whether Rui Ling and Takumi should be allowed to stay here in Namimori as your trainers."

"Absolutely not. I want herbivore trash off the grounds, now." Snarling, Hibari turned his eyes to both Varia members. Neither Rui Ling nor Takumi dignified that insult, and Tsuna had the feeling that he would have to convince the carnivore skylark to accept the two's presence on his territory temporarily.

"B-But Hibari-san, we could—you could—well, it should be okay so long as they don't violate school rules, r-right?'

"Ch, I think I already did when I punched your precious guardian in the jaw."

At this statement, Hibari slowly rose and all that could be seen was a cold flash of steel before the two were at it again. Crouching behind the couch in a fetal position, Tsuna wondered if he could escape the brawl unnoticed just as the table crashed through the sliding doors and into the hallway, startling the nearby classes into silence.

On second thought, movement was bad. One could catch the attention of the anger-filled individuals and become an instant target for projectiles.

* * *

Gokudera Hayato was _not pleased_.

And by _not pleased_, we mean he's _absolutely livid_. The smoking bomb cradled Tsuna's face between his hands, his emerald eyes alive with worry, frustration, and rage as he scrutinized the small nicks, scrapes, and bruises on the Tenth's face. On his forehead, right under the fringe of his spiky honey-brown hair was three small scratches with one large one, where he could clearly see shards of glass stuck in the wound. A large patch of skin was rubbed raw at the corner of his mouth, where it was split open, as if the boy had given himself a rug burn on his face with an unyielding wall at the end. The explosives expert gently pulled the shards out of the gash while Tsuna whimpered over Yamamoto's worried _are you okay_'s and _who did this to you—it can't be Hibari-san, right_?

"Tenth, was it that asshole that did this to you!? If so, I'll kick his undeserving little—"

"No! It's fine Gokudera-kun, I'm okay, it wasn't Hibari-san's fault!"

"That fucking bastard, I swear I'll blow his dick off!"

Yamamoto tried to pacify the storm guardian as he vowed to do the worst things imaginable to the committee chairman while the boss frantically tried to convince his right hand man that _really Gokudera, it was just an accident, Hibari got into a disagreement with someone else and I sort of got hit in the face with a dictionary_.

Their discussion over whether it'd be ethical (and possible) to hang Hibari over the side of Namimori's auditorium with nothing but his socks on was abruptly ended when Reborn made his appearance (with a kick to the back of Tsuna's head, no less), Takumi and Rui Ling in tow. Upon seeing the myriad of battle scars on her face, Gokudera materialized his sticks of dynamite out of thin air, cigarette lit and ready to make some fireworks.

"WERE YOU THE ONE THAT DID THIS TO THE TENTH!?" Yamamoto laughed it off nervously as he restrained the Mafioso from calling an all out war on the Varia members. At the darkening look on Rui Ling's face, Tsuna seemed to look ready to hurl himself into a ditch.

"No, I didn't. Your boss just seemed to be unable to obey his gut instincts that tell him when to dodge." The woman snarled, wincing at the slight pain that action caused. Damn unyielding walls and how _solid_ they feel when one goes crashing into it at twenty miles per hour.

"It's not that, it's…" In truth, Tsuna knew that if he were to have gone into his Dying Will mindset, he would have destroyed part of Namimori. Such actions were not tolerable, and considering he was slowly on his way to not being on the chairman's shitlist, he wanted to keep it that way. Granted, he could have done without being hit by random everyday objects.

"Calm down, Gokudera-kun." Reborn chirped from behind Tsuna. Gokudera bit back a snarl as Rui Ling and Takumi seated themselves down upon the grass, underneath the shade of the tree. The silver-haired mafioso grudgingly sat down as well, although he placed himself close to Tsuna. The brunette sighed tiredly.

"Well, I believe we haven't met these two before." Piped Yamamoto, the ever eager-to-break-the-ice baseball player as he nodded in the two's direction. Takumi smiled a bit wearily.

"I'm Nagano Takumi. She's Chen Rui Ling, but you can call me Taku and her Rui for short. We're from the Varia, and we're here on some official business." Tsuna quietly held Gokudera back, knowing that prejudices run deep (especially since the whole fiasco with Xanxus was rather recent). Yamamoto beamed, although it seemed a bit crooked at the edges, as if he was doing it out of custom and not because he actually meant it.

"Ah, I see, I'm—"

"Yamamoto Takeshi, rain guardian of the Vongola. Also heir to the Takesushi business."

"Haha, yes! We should all grab some sushi after school is over at my place so we can get to know each other."

"That doesn't sound half-bad." The Arcobaleno snapped his fingers with a grin. "And we can discuss the upcoming training sessions over some tea and sashimi."

Tsuna groaned.

* * *

Several hours later found the majority of the guardians (save for Hibari and Mukuro, because having those two in the same room as each other could only spell disaster), Reborn, Haru, Kyoko, and the two mafioso were seated at an elongated table at Takesushi, enjoying green tea and raw fish as they discussed the reason for the Varia members' presence in Namimori. Kyoko and Haru managed to get the basic gist of the situation.

"So let me get this straight," Gokudera started off slowly. "Some Italian woman on the same level of infamy as Mukuro is out to get the Tenth?"

"Yes." Reborn nodded. "Sources also say that she's responsible for the death of Hibari's mother and the disappearance of his father." To this, Gokudera responded with a shocked _you mean he wasn't born from demons_—and Yamamoto nudged him in the ribs, saying it wasn't nice to joke about the death of a person's parents—to which the silver-haired boy fell silent to. Tsuna wanted to pitch in with a mention of the diary, but it didn't seem like appropriate table conversation (then again, plotting the downfall of a person wasn't appropriate table conversation either, but he digresses).

"Have there been any leads on that, Reborn?" He asked curiously. The Arcobaleno shook his head with a slight frown. "She's in this city though…"

"I've heard that from Hibari. Apparently, she keeps moving her hideout around and he's always been a little bit too late." That little tidbit dampened the cheerful mood a bit; even though they were just rumors, the nature of them ringed true when applied to Hibari Kyouya: his information network in Namimori was flawless. As far as anyone was concerned, _he_ ran the city. To have someone elude his grasp (and the painful sting of his tonfa) for this long could only mean a bumpy and shaky road up ahead for all of them—especially since Oria was gunning for Tsuna.

Tired, Tsuna flopped down on his bed with a small grunt, his eyes drifting close for a second. The tips of his finger grazed around the edges of the diary, placed directly under his pillow. Hesitating for a moment, Tsuna pulled it out and rolled over on his bed so that when he flipped the pages open, the light from the lamp would shine upon the age-worn pages.

Blinking sleep away from his eyes, he flipped to the next entry and delved in.

* * *

_December 20, 1993_

_It took the efforts of my whole committee, plus some of my more shady contacts to uncover Kyouya's location. Seems like those that Savanna has deemed useless were left behind, convinced that they could convey some worth to her by keeping a tight watch over my nephew._

_Pathetic. It took me two minutes to dispatch them. When I found Kyouya, I didn't feel relieved. They didn't _kill_ him, thank god. It didn't make the sight any better though. There were multiple bruises and gashes on his body. His hair was clumped together, as if he wasn't given a proper bath since day one of being kidnapped. His arm was bending in a way that shouldn't be bent, and god… the _cage_ they put him in was utterly filthy._

_I quickly broke the lock open and tore off the door, but he doesn't move. Upon prodding him, he jerks awake and turns his eyes to me. They're horribly swollen, but even in the shadows of this dingy hellhole, you can see the anger in them._

_Whatever these people have done, they've created a bloodthirsty monster. _

_And I have every intention of finding the sacrifices that he will be looking for so that they can _suffer_._

* * *

Before he could continue on to the next entry, a loud knock on his window drew his attention. Jumping up from his mattress, Tsuna walked the pace to his window and looked out. Steely blue eyes met his curious brown ones, and he threw himself backwards in shock. Hibari Kyouya was perched outside, looking utterly irritated and murderous.

Deciding that relying on a scared Tsuna was pointless, he dug his fingers into the crack and pulled open the glass door of the window, inviting himself into the warm house and out of the cold weather. Giving a cursory glance to Tsuna and the current state of the small bedroom, he directed his attention to the door, where the sounds of warm chatter filtered in through the cracks.

"Where's the infant herbivore?" He asked and Tsuna fumbled for an answer.

"Uh, he's downstairs, but I don't know if you should walk down there—you kind of made a sudden appearance, after all."

The Disciplinary Committee chairman looked over, and Tsuna could not help but notice that although his pale skin appeared flawless from a first glance—one could see the miniscule scars dotting his face and arms. They were nowhere near as obvious as Xanxus' scars; thinking of the Varia boss with no scars—that could only exist in an alternate dimension. A Hibari with no scars, however, was plausible.

Almost involuntarily, Tsuna reached his hand out to brush against the exposed skin of Hibari's forearm, and the older boy spun around—and the Tenth found himself pressed down against his bed by the throat. There was a slight hint of panic in the black-haired boy's eyes before it turned into irritation at the sight of the open diary that was an inch away from Tsuna's head. He turned his attention to the frail boy who seemed to be uttering apologies profusely.

"I'm so sorry Hibari-san! I just wanted to—I didn't mean to—"

"Yes, you didn't mean to, Sawada." Those words silenced Tsuna as he peered up with his large brown eyes. Something stirred in the pit of Hibari's stomach before clenching painfully, and he quickly withdrew his hand from the herbivore's throat. Angry red marks remained from his initial grasp that nearly choked the life out of him. "That doesn't change the fact that an herbivore is still trampling around in my past where it doesn't belong."

His eyebrows drew into an offended knot and he opened his mouth to protest, but Reborn had opened the door at that exact moment with a tray and two cups of steaming hot tea. His eyes fell on Hibari, but instead of looking surprised at his presence in Tsuna's room, he seemed to be expecting him.

"Ah, Hibari-san. Nice of you to come. You need information, I suppose?"

"Yes. It seems that Oria has a method of eluding my men. Do you happen to have anything on the bullets created by the Estraneo family?"

"Nothing relevant so far other than the Rebirth bullet. I'm still looking into it. Are you going to the training exercise tomorrow?"

"Training exercise?" Tsuna and Hibari repeated.

"Yes, Takumi and Rui will be briefing you on some fighting tactics. There's also something I would like both of you to see, so I'd like it if you attended, Hibari-san."

"Well, it's not like I have a choice." Tsuna sighed. Hibari gave a small nod—most likely only agreeing since it would get him closer to catching Oria. "What is it though?"

"Now that would be ruining the surprise and excitement, now wouldn't it?"

Reborn gave an ambiguous smile and Hibari, satisfied for the moment, hopped out the window and vanished. Tsuna frowned as he flopped back down on the bed and shut the diary.

* * *

(SCREAMS ANGRILY)

Well, I should get working on the next chapter. Don't expect it to come out any time soon though.


End file.
